Matthew Perry not only regrets having insulted Keanu Reeves in his new book, but instead is pulling Reeves’ name out of future editions of “Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing,” Perry’s memoir of his long struggle with substance abuse and addiction.
Perry shared the news of the review at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, addressing a crowd at USC’s Bovard Auditorium on Saturday afternoon during a panel moderated by Matt Brennan, deputy editor for arts and entertainment at The Times. .
“I said stupid. It was a bad thing”Perry said, referring to his lament in the book that former co-stars River Phoenix and Chris Farley had died as Reeves “walks among us.”
“I got his name out because I live on the same street,” Perry said. “I have publicly apologized to him. Any future version of the book will not have his name.” She said she hadn’t apologized to Reeves in person, but added: “If I run into the guy, I’ll apologize. It was just stupid.
Although Perry is proud that a new generation of fans has come to appreciate “Friends” nearly 20 years after the series ended, he accepts criticism that it lacked diversity.
“It was a different time,” he said. “No one was talking about diversity.” At the same time, he added to her, “we were all stupid.” Now, he said, “diversity is a big problem. It’s the right thing to do.”