Matthew Perry says Keanu Reeves insult will be removed from future editions of memoir

Matthew Perry has once again addressed those perplexing (some would say insulting) comments he made about Keanu Reeves in his memoir released late last year.

The actor traces his past struggles with addiction and early days of sitcom fame in Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, which references Reeves in passages about celebrity deaths. At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books at University of Southern California's Bovard Auditorium on Saturday, Perry acknowledged that he "said a stupid thing."

"It was a mean thing to do," Perry told the audience, revealing that future editions of the memoir will omit any mention of Reeves. "I pulled his name because I live on the same street. I've apologized publicly to him. Any future versions of the book will not have his name in it."

Perry said he has yet to apologize to Reeves in person, but added, "If I run into the guy, I'll apologize. It was just stupid."

Reeves is name-dropped twice in the memoir as Perry laments the deaths of River Phoenix and comedian Chris Farley, both of whom died from a drug overdose.

"River was a beautiful man, inside and out — too beautiful for this world, it turned out," Perry writes. "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?"

Later, Perry recounts his reaction to the news of Farley's death: "I punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston's dressing room wall when I found out. Keanu Reeves walks among us."

The excerpts made headlines, prompting Perry to issue an apology. "I'm actually a big fan of Keanu," Perry said in a statement at the time. "I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead."

At the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, Perry said writing his memoir helped with his recovery. "It came pouring out of me — the painful stuff, hospitals, rehabs, all of this stuff — it poured out of me," he said. "It went really quickly." The most painful aspect was reading what he had written. Perry said he remembered thinking, "What a horrible life this guy has had."

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