BAFTA confirms Matthew Perry to be honored at TV awards after academy faces backlash
Feb 18, 2024
London [UK], February 19 : Late Hollywood actor Matthew Perry's fans expressed their disappointment after the 'Friends' actor was not included in the 2024 BAFTA Film Awards In Memoriam segment.
Due to this BAFTA faced backlash on social media.
After Perry, who died last October at age 54, did not appear during the tribute -- set to a special arrangement of Cyndi Lauper's "Time After Time" performed by Ted Lasso's Hannah Waddingham -- social media users were quick to criticize the decision, as per PEOPLE.
Taking to X, users called out BAFTA for the perceived omission, which one dubbed "bad form" alongside a GIF of Perry's Friends character, Chandler Bing, saying, "You can't make this stuff up."
"#Matthewperry why wasn't he mentioned in he baftas?????," a user wrote.
Another user wrote, "#BAFTA what happened to Matthew Perry in your memoriam. I know he's famous for TV Friends, but he did films too - shocking mistake ..."
However, BAFTA has now responded to the social media backlash.
Responding to Perry's absence from the tribute, a spokesperson for BAFTA tells PEOPLE, "I can confirm Matthew Perry will be remembered in our forthcoming BAFTA Television Awards."
On X, BAFTA echoed this statement, writing, "Matthew Perry will be remembered in this year's TV Awards ceremony," and shared the link to the academy's online tribute to the actor, reported PEOPLE.
Perry died Saturday, Oct. 28 at his Los Angeles home. His cause of death was later determined to be due to acute effects of ketamine, with other contributing factors.
The actor was recently included in the In Memoriam segment during the 2023 Emmy Awards last month. Perry's image was shown as Charlie Puth performed his 2015 hit, "See You Again," transitioned into the Friends theme song, "I'll Be There for You," as per PEOPLE.
