Matthew Perry is acknowledging that lashing out at Keanu Reeves in his memoir was “a mean thing to do,” and vowed on Saturday to cut the insults out of future editions. The Friends star courted controversy after lamenting in his book, Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, that actors like River Phoenix and Heath Ledger had died while Reeves “still walks among us.” Perry, making an appearance at the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, told the audience, “I said a stupid thing. It was a mean thing to do. 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.” He added that he plans to apologize to Reeves personally “if I run into the guy.” Reeves did not comment on the storm of criticism that followed the memoir’s October release, nor Perry’s swift expression of regret. “I’m actually a big of Keanu,” he said at the time. “I just chose a random name, my mistake.”
