People Are Wondering How On Earth Matthew Perry Could Hate Keanu Reeves, One Of The Internet’s Favorite People

Update: Since the information superhighway blew up on Matthew Perry dissing Keanu Reeves in his memoir (see below), he’s issued a statement saying that he…doesn’t hate him but just used his name randomly? Something like that. “I’m actually a big fan of Keanu,” Perry said in a statement. “I just chose a random name, my mistake. I apologize. I should have used my own name instead.”

Original story: Matthew Perry is on a kind of comeback tour, doing the rounds for his new memoir, Friends, Lovers and the Big Terrible Thing. Based on the many excerpts that have already been published, it sounds like a bracing read. The Friends alum delves into his longtime battles with addiction, which came close to taking his life. (There’s also some more lighthearted business involving Julia Roberts, though even that story has a sad conclusion.) But there’s one confession that people are not down with: He apparently hates Keanu Reeves.

Twice in his memoir Perry disses Keanu Reeves. “Why is it that the original thinkers like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger die, but Keanu Reeves still walks among us?” he writes at point. Later on, after learning about the death of his Almost Heroes co-star Chris Farley, he writes that he “punched a hole through Jennifer Aniston’s dressing room wall when I found out.” Then he adds, lamentably, “Keanu Reeves walks among us.”

Why does the erstwhile Chandler Bing hate the erstwhile Johnny Mnemonic? So far, it’s unclear. Maybe he dedicates a chapter to why he hates him. Or perhaps he never caught wind that Reeves went from a sometime joke to one of the most beloved, kindest celebrities on the planet.

Whatever Perry’s motivation, the Keanu hate left people scratching their heads. In a since-deleted tweet, Reeves’ Bill and Ted costar Alex Winter wrote, “The surest way to consign yourself to the dustbin of the 90’s is to take potshots that no one has made since the 90’s.”

Others felt similarly.

Some wondered if he simply missed a memo or two.

A lot of people stood up for Keanu (who will be fine).

And other reminded people that Keanu knew Phoenix, with whom he starred in Gus Van Sant’s landmark queer drama My Own Private Idaho.

In any case, if Reeves had any doubt he was loved, he only had to check out Twitter on Wednesday. But he was probably busy walking grandmas across the street or something.