Matthew Perry Clarifies Bizarre Keanu Reeves Shade

By Stephen Andrew

Matthew Perry recently came under fire for some bizarre shade he throws at Keanu Reeves in his new memoir. Now, the Friends actor has clarified his feelings about Reeves, telling 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."

In an excerpt of his new book —titled Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing — Perry reflects on the death of his friend, River Phoenix, writing, "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." He then adds, "Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?" Later in the book, while discussing the death of SNL star Chris Farley, Perry adds, "His disease 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."

Since being picked up by news outlets, Perry's insulting comments about Reeves have not been met with support, but rather with criticism by many people. "The Matthew Perry/Keanu Reeves thing is a weird glimpse into the mind of a dude who's just not paying attention to the world beyond his periphery and thinks he's in step with a culture that left him behind a couple decades ago," offered journalist and Fangoria editor-in-chief Phile Noble Jr. "We all know that dude. Some of us are that dude."

"Matthew Perry dumping on Keanu Reeves is a joke. Keanu has had his series of personal tragedies (death of fiancé, unborn child, sister dying of cancer, etc.) yet he rises above it to be a kind and generous human being. And then there's Matthew Perry who's a self-indulgent tool," one very upset fan tweeted. Someone else added, "One of the things I appreciate most about Keanu Reeves is that, in 30 years of fame, I've never heard him publicly say an unkind word about anyone."

In a previous statement to PEOPLE, Perry shared why he chose to write a memoir, telling the outlet, "I wanted to share when I was safe from going into the dark side of everything again. I had to wait until I was pretty safely sober – and away from the active disease of alcoholism and addiction – to write it all down. And the main thing was, I was pretty certain that it would help people."

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