Matthew Perry kicked off an internet firestorm after taking a dark and awkward swipe at Keanu Reeves in his new memoir Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. While reminiscing about the death of River Phoenix, who Perry became friends with while filming the 1988 film, A Night in the Life of Jimmy Reardon, the Friends star seemed to be angered by that Reeves is still alive. Like we said, it got pretty dark.
“Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” Perry wrote via Page Six. He then made the remark again after sharing his reaction to the death of Chris Farley. “I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out,” Perry wrote. “Keanu Reeves walks among us.”
With Perry’s passages out in the wild, TV’s Chandler Bing soon learned that there’s an enormous amount of love for Keanu Reeves, and Perry issued a bizarre explanation for the seemingly out-of-nowhere Keanu hate. Via Deadline:
“I’m actually a big fan of Keanu,” Perry’s statement reads. “I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead.”
However, there has been speculation that suggests Perry’s swipes at Reeves were not “random.” One school of thought is that Perry was jealous of Reeves’ professional success and/or his own friendship with Phoenix before his death. Another theory is that Perry’s humor is still trapped in the ’90s when joking about Reeves’ acting abilities happened all of the time. Keanu is revered now, but it was not uncommon to mock the Bill & Ted actor even after The Matrix made him a massive star.
As for the real explanation, until we hear from Reeves or other sources, all we have is speculation and Perry’s claim that it was a random mistake.
(Via Deadline)
