During his appearance at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Book on Saturday, actor Matthew Perry publicly admitted his regret for previous remarks he made about Keanu Reeves. Perry has now vowed to remove Reeves’ name from any future editions of his memoir, “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” which was published in November 2022 and detailed Perry’s struggles with addiction.
In the book, Perry made several comments about Reeves, referring to him as an actor who “still walks among us” while other “original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die.” Perry did not elaborate further on these remarks.
At the book festival, Perry acknowledged his mistake, stating that “I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do. I pulled his name because I live on the same street. I’ve apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it.” Perry also expressed his intention to personally apologize to Reeves if they ever cross paths.
In October of last year, Perry faced backlash for his initial comments about Reeves, and issued a public apology in response. He stated, “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.”
In addition to addressing his past remarks about Reeves, Perry also spoke about the lack of diversity on the hit TV show Friends, which he starred in for 10 seasons. He acknowledged that at the time, “Nobody talked about diversity… we were all stupid.” However, he emphasized the importance of diversity and how it is “the right thing to do.”
