What did Matthew Perry say about Keanu Reeves?

Matthew Perry has been forced to edit future copies of his memoir after he was criticised for making a dig at Hollywood’s most universally beloved star.

The Friends icon admitted he was “stupid” for a comment he made about Keanu Reeves in his autobiography ‘Friends, Lovers and and the Big Terrible Thing’.

In the book, Perry, 53, name-checked the Matrixlegend while reflecting on the untimely deaths of some of his famous friends.

"It always seems to be the really talented guys who go down,” he wrote.

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“Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?"

Phoenix (the older brother of Joaquin) died of a drug overdose in 1993 aged just 23, and Ledger was killed by a lethal mix of pills back in 2008, aged 28.

Reeves, 58, who very much still walks among us, is known as one of the nicest guys in showbiz, but he’s no stranger to tragedy.

Not only did he suffer greatly from the death of Phoenix – who was his best friend but – six years later, on Christmas Eve, 1999, he and his then-girlfriend Jennifer Syme lost their baby girl to a stillbirth. Then, in 2001, Syme was killed in a car accident.

In other words, he definitely didn’t deserve that jibe from the 17 Again star, as Perry has since wholeheartedly admitted.

"I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do,” he said during a panel discussion at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books over the weekend.

"I pulled his name because I live on the same street. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it."

In October last year, the 53-year-old told People he was “actually a big fan of Keanu.”

"I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologise,” he told the site. “I should have used my own name instead."

The 53-year-old also insisted he will apologise to Reeves in person if he ever runs into him.

Given that they apparently live on the same street, we reckon he should pop round immediately with a bouquet of flowers or a basket of muffins to say sorry.

After all, that’s what Keanu would do.

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