Actor Matthew Perry speaks onstage during the 64th Annual Primetime Emmy Awards at Nokia Theatre ... [+]
Excerpts from Matthew Perry’s upcoming memoir, in which Perry gets candid with his struggles with addiction, have been inspiring headlines for several weeks. One passage, which took a random, mean-spirited jab at Keanu Reeves, sparked backlash online, prompting an apology from Perry.
In the passage, Perry discusses his close friendship with the late River Phoenix, and his reaction to Phoenix’s death in 1993 from an overdose.
“River was a beautiful man, inside and out — too beautiful for this world, it turned out,” Perry wrote in the book. “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?”
It’s an odd, tasteless jab that seems to come out of nowhere, and Perry repeats the sentiment in a later passage where he describes his reaction to the death of Chris Farley, who also died from an overdose.
Perry writes. “I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out. Keanu Reeves walks among us. I had to promote ‘Almost Heroes’ two weeks after he died; I found myself publicly discussing his death from drugs and alcohol. I was high the entire time.”
There aren’t many “unproblematic” celebrities out there nowadays, and Reeves is one of the few who remains almost universally beloved, especially online. So many celebrities have been outed as abusers, or become consumed by bigotry, while Reeves has a reputation of being a genuinely lovely person.
Hence, the internet instantly came to his defense.
Some speculated that Perry might be nursing some kind of personal grudge against Reeves, while others noted that the jab was particularly cruel, considering that Reeves has experienced more than his fair share of grief and loss.
In response to the flood of condemnation, Perry quickly apologized, and attempted to clarify his intentions. In a statement to People Magazine, Perry said:
“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.”
Some commentators were confused by Perry’s apology, as Reeves didn’t seem to be a random name at all; like Perry, Reeves was once close friends with River Phoenix.
In previous interviews, Reeves has been candid about how much he still grieves the late actor. In an interview with Esquire, Reeves discussed Phoenix, stating:
“It’s weird speaking about him in the past. I hate speaking about him in the past. So I almost always gotta keep it present. He was a really special person, so original, unique, smart, talented, fiercely creative. Thoughtful. Brave. And funny. And dark. And light. It was great to have known him.”
Perhaps Perry, who rose to fame in the nineties, where “edgy” humor was much more popular, was simply making a bad joke that really didn’t land; tastes have changed, as audiences have become more empathetic.
Nowadays, that kind of mean-spirited humor has become strongly associated with right-wing provocateurs, or fading comedians clinging on to relevancy through controversy.
Whatever Perry was thinking, he surely learned his lesson - never target Keanu Reeves, the most beloved man on the internet.
