Matthew Perry Quits Cameo After Slurred Speech In ‘Friends’ Promo
Matthew Perry has departed from the celebrity personalized message app Cameo ahead of the Friends reunion after fans displayed concern for his slurred speech.
Page Six reports that the 51-year-old’s profile on the app is still searchable, but there is no longer an option to request a video from the beloved star and instead provides an option to “notify me when available.” Perry was charging $999 for a 20-second clip from him. Cameo allows fans to pay to have a personalized message from celebrities sent as gifts.
In a People Magazine promotional video ahead of Friday’s HBO Max debut, Perry can be heard slurring his words together at one point while answering a question about whether he ever took a souvenir from the old set after the end of the show in 2004. He said at 5:22, “I stole the cookie jar that had the clock on it and I gave it to Lisa Kudrow. She, at one point, looked at it and thought it was a real clock. And I gave it to her.”
Perry appeared with his former male co-stars David Schwimmer and Matt LeBlanc, while the ladies, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox and Lisa Kudrow sat together as they talked about what it was like to get back together to shoot the legendary sitcom one more time.
A source later told The Sun U.K. that Perry’s speech issue was the result of dental work he had done the day of the taping: “Matthew turned up to the reunion [in April] and members of his team said that he had an emergency tooth procedure that day. That was said to impact his wellbeing and also how he was feeling.”
The source added, “He had been in pain from what we understand, which caused the slurred speech. Obviously no one wants to film after a procedure, but it happened. The feeling was one of huge sympathy for Matthew, especially in recent days given how people have reacted online. Matthew has told those around him that he is sober, and there is no need to worry.”
However, a fan expressed concern for Perry on Twitter in December when he also appeared to have slurred speech writing, “Seriously starting to get worried about Matthew Perry, man the dude doesn’t look well and in his recent ‘Cameo’ videos he’s slurring his words,” a fan tweeted. “Even the fact he’s ON ‘Cameo’ doesn’t bode well for me.”
https://twitter.com/roboemjay/status/1334586149017411588?s=20
More fans on Twitter expressed concern for the actor’s slurred speech:
https://twitter.com/LiberallyInked/status/1395303158650388481?s=20
https://twitter.com/misspsychoscorp/status/1395297279704276992?s=20
@MatthewPerry Are you okay? I just saw the "Friends" reunion promo on YouTube and you didn't look all that well. You seemed kind of off, like you were staring into blank space and slurring your words.
— Sam Sticka (@samsticka) May 21, 2021
You're not ill, are you? Just concerned, that's all.
Get some help dude! Your not looking good, slurring words. That junks gonna kill ya.
— Wade (@CarmichaelWade) May 21, 2021
Matthew Perry has long been open about his struggles with addiction, the media outlet reports. His problems reached a dangerous point after a 1997 jet-ski accident left him addicted to Vicodin. “I was out of control and very unhealthy,” he told People at the time.
Perry has confessed that he doesn’t recall filming multiple seasons of Friends during which viewers could see his drastic weight loss. By 2001, he was drinking vodka by the quart and showing up to work hungover. He told BBC Radio 2 in 2016, “I don’t remember three years of it. Somewhere between Seasons 3 and 6 … I was a little out of it.”
