Matthew Perry has learned the hard way that a charming aspect of a screen character doesn’t always transition into real life all that well.
In one of the excerpts from his memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing” which went viral on social media, he referred to the death of Heath Ledger and his co-star River Phoenix while showing apparent disappointment at the fact that Keanu Reeves is still alive and “walks among us.” River Phonenix was a close friend of Reeves.
“River was a beautiful man, inside and out – too beautiful for this world, it turned out. It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down,” Matthew wrote. “Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”
Matthew’s approach seemed anything but comic. He insults Keanu not once but twice, this time talking about the death of Chris Farley, who he co-starred with in the 1998 comedy film, “Almost Heroes.”
“His disease had progressed faster than mine had. (Plus, I had a healthy fear of the word ‘heroin,’ a fear we did not share) … I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out. Keanu Reeves walks among us,” read a section in his memoir.
Netizens heavily condemned Matthew’s insulting remarks on Keanu Reeves. Admitting his mistake, he revealed that he’s a fan himself. “I’m actually a big fan of Keanu. I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead,” Matthew said while speaking to People magazine last October.
This Saturday afternoon, while speaking with Matt Brennan of LA Times at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, he spoke about the controversy and said, “I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do.”
Moreover, Matthew announced that all the references to Keanu Reeves will be omitted from future editions of his memoir. “I’ve apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it,” he said.
“I pulled his name because I live on the same street,” he added as if Keanu Reeves is John Wick.
