Matthew Perry apologises for Keanu Reeves comments in new memoir

Baffled fans had said comments were ‘weird’ and ‘not a good look’

Matthew Perry has apologised for comments he made about Keanu Reeves in his new memoir Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.

In the forthcoming book, Perry writes about his time on the hit sitcom Friends, and his extensive and widely publicised struggles with alcohol and painkiller addiction.

In extracts from the memoir published online, Perry also seems to reveal he has strong negative feelings towards the star of The Matrix.

Reeves is mentioned in the book when Perry comments on the death of River Phoenix, who was a close friend of Reeves before he died aged 23. Perry’s first film, 1998’s A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, co-starred Phoenix.

In his memoir, Perry writes: “Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”

He makes another dig at Reeves when discussing Chris Farley, who died of an overdose in 1997, just after the two stars had made the Christopher Guest film Almost Heroes together.

Describing his reaction on learning that Farley had died of a drug overdose, Perry writes: “I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out. Keanu Reeves walks among us.”

The comments baffled many social media users, who did not understood where the comments stemmed from and noted that Perry and Reeves never worked together on the same project.

In a statement shared to media outlets including People on 26 October, Perry has now said: “I’m actually a big fan of Keanu. I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologise. I should have used my own name instead.”

The Independent has approached Perry and Reeves’s representatives for comment.

Perry and Courteney Cox on ‘Friends' (Getty Images)

Elsewhere in his book, Perry writes about taking 55 strong painkillers a day to get through filming Friends.

After filming Chandler and Monica’s (Courteney Cox) wedding in season seven, he was taken to rehab in a pick-up truck.

In more recent years, Perry had been due to appear in the Netflix film Don’t Look Up, but had to pull out after his heart stopped beating for five minutes while in rehab.

Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing is out on 1 November.

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