Matthew Perry said that he would remove the controversial mentions of Keanu Reeves from future editions of his memoir.
In October 2022, the troubled Friends star published a best-selling memoir, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing.
The actor, who played Chandler Bing in the US sitcom, made offensive references to Reeves in a seemingly uncalled-for jibe.
According to CNN, Perry appeared at the LA Times Festival of Books over the weekend during a panel and told the audience that he plans to remove Reeves’ name from future editions of his memoir.
The memoir is a candid story of his rise to fame and struggles with addiction, but the actor faced backlash for his mention of Reeves, who is a popular and unproblematic Hollywood star.
The John Wicks star was mentioned in an excerpt about his friend River Phoenix’s 1993 death.
“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,” Perry wrote, continuing.
“Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?”
Perry described his mention of Reeves as “stupid” and “mean.” He explained that he picked the actor’s name because they live on the same street.
Matthew Perry said he is a big fan of Keanu Reeves
Perry apologized for the disrespectful references to The Matrix star in his memoir in a statement to PEOPLE back in October last year.
He told the outlet that he is a fan of the Hollywood star and had no reason to reference him.
“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.”
While Perry claimed that he thought of Reeves’ name at random, he mentioned the 58-year-old actor twice.
Per PEOPLE, Perry also questioned why Reeves “walks among us” when recalling his reaction to the death of comedian Chris Farley, who died of a drug overdose at age 33.
Matthew Perry’s battle with alcohol and drug addiction
In an interview with ABC, Perry revealed that he started drinking at age 14 and went through periods of excessive drinking, which he kept from his family and friends.
He recalled how the cast and crew of Friends gathered in his dressing room to stage an intervention.
Perry told the outlet that he went to rehab 15 times and detoxed 65 times.
The actor began his struggles with Vicodin after he suffered an injury while filming the movie Fools Rush In.
At one point, the Friends star was taking 55 Vicodin pills a day due to his high tolerance from frequent use of the drug.
In 2018, Perry said he was hospitalized for a perforated bowel due to his painkiller addiction. He was put on life support after contracting pneumonia and was in a coma for two weeks.
Perry, who has been sober since May 2021, has used his platform to raise awareness about addiction.