If you've spent any time on the internet in recent years, you know that actor Keanu Reeves is one of the most universally loved Hollywood stars. There are memes about him and everything!
So when it was revealed this week that actor Matthew Perry chose to drag Reeves in his new memoir by questioning why he "still walks among us" when many of his fellow 90s luminaries died young... well, you can imagine how it went over.
The passages are truly bizarre choices on Perry's part, dripping with petulant jealousy and the seeming suggestion, albeit presumably in jest, that Perry feels Reeves deserves to be dead instead of his colleagues like River Phoenix and Chris Farley.
But when an uproar erupted and Perry decided to apologize in a statement to People magazine, things got even stranger.
\u201cMatthew Perry has apologized after asking why Keanu Reeves "still walks among us" in his memoir: "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." https://t.co/wfK2xSF6QT\u201d— Variety (@Variety) 1666884151
Perry told People:
"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."
Uh... okay, then. Quick question: Does Perry have a publicist? Because... yikes.
The flap began earlier this week when Perry began promoting his memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which delves deep into his Hollywood career, which began when he was just 10 years old in 1979, his time as a star of the legendary sitcom Friends, and his harrowing struggles with addiction.
But the two passages about Reeves are the bits that have stuck out the most to people online. In both, Perry questions why Reeves is still alive when “talented” performers and “original thinkers” like actor River Phoenix and comedian Chris Farley both died young in the 1990s due to drug overdoses.
In one passage, Perry writes:
“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."
"Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?"
This passage is particularly distasteful given that River Phoenix and Keanu Reeves were deeply close friends at the time of Phoenix's death.
But in case Perry's view that Reeves doesn't deserve to be here wasn't clear enough, Perry returns to it again in another passage in which he discusses being so angered by Reeves' survival he punched a hole in a wall.
“[Farley's addiction] 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."
Yikes.
Perry's bizarre apology rang insincere to many on social media, and has done little to quell the disgust his passages inspired.
\u201cTrying to imagine the phone call that led to this apology: \nIn a statement to PEOPLE, Perry says: "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."\nhttps://t.co/SouVRHFBfd\u201d— Tracie Hunte (@Tracie Hunte) 1666883617
\u201c""I'm actually a big fan of Keanu. I just chose a random name, my mistake." \n\nOH MATE. \nhttps://t.co/agS8NjUtEh\u201d— Carl Anka (@Carl Anka) 1666889105
\u201cSo weird for Chandler Bing to randomly wish death on one of the nicest unproblematic men in Hollywood who is an actual great guy irl.\u201d— roxane gay (@roxane gay) 1666843874
\u201cthe backlash Matthew Perry is getting for hating Keanu Reeves is making me rethink the chapter in my autobiography detailing the time I stole Dolly Parton's car and ran over Henry Winkler\u201d— Matt \ud83c\udf83swalt (@Matt \ud83c\udf83swalt) 1666843865
\u201cMatthew Perry's apology for what he wrote about Keanu Reeves is amazing because he literally says sorry, admits he just picked a name at random, and... That's it\u201d— skylark jones (@skylark jones) 1666879828
\u201c@Phil_Lewis_ Whenever I need a random name, Keanu Reeves is certainly the first one to come to mind, so much so that I will use it on two separate occasions while wishing someone was dead.\u201d— philip lewis (@philip lewis) 1666872510
\u201c@abelljr1 @Phil_Lewis_ Right? A random name would have been Bob.\u201d— philip lewis (@philip lewis) 1666872510
\u201c@LizVassey Matthew Perry made a HUGE MISTAKE going after Keanu Reeves and now trying to apologize. Too bad, too late. Keanu is one of the kindest people according to every person, cast and crew included, who have ever known him.\u201d— Liz Vassey (@Liz Vassey) 1666822838
\u201c@RichardERoeper His apology statement is just as stupid and reads a lot like a lie, \u201cI\u2019m actually a big fan of Keanu,\u201d Perry\u2019s statement reads. \u201cI just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead.\u201d https://t.co/3SF3Qclgwa\u201d— Richard Roeper (@Richard Roeper) 1666835205
\u201cthe publicity tour is going so very well\u201d— Toby Earle \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6 (@Toby Earle \ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\udde6) 1666881067
Could this BE any more awkward?
Perry's memoir comes out November 1.
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