Pub sparks fury after creating Matthew Perry-themed cocktail following his death
The Unley pub in Australia has addressed the backlash to its Chandler Bing cocktail
A pub sparked fury after creating a Matthew Perry-themed cocktail in an attempt to pay tribute to the late actor.
The Hollywood actor gained worldwide fame while starring in the hit ‘90s sitcom for 10 seasons as Chandler Bing.
Fans of Friends, as well as his loved ones, have paid tribute to Perry after he was found dead at his California home after an apparent drowning aged 54.
The Unley pub in Adelaide, Australia, was forced to pull a cocktail named after Perry’s Friends character Chandler Bing.
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On Tuesday (31 October) the pub announced its $18AUD (£9.46) ‘cocktail of the month’ would be ‘in honour of’ the late actor.
In a now-deleted post to promote the drink, the establishment called the cocktail ‘a tribute to our sarcastic King we present to you, the Chandler Bing’.
The post was accompanied with the hashtags “#cocktail #cocktailofthemonth #chandlerbing #matthewperry #friends #ripking.”
The pub also mimicked the episode title format for the sitcom, with the line 'The one where we lost a friend' included in the promotional image for the drink.
The drink was meant to be a blend of Southern Comfort, peach schnapps, cranberry, fresh lime and sugar.
However the concept wasn’t welcomed with open arms by Aussie Friends fans, with many calling out the fact that Perry struggled with alcoholism during his lifetime.
Perry had been candid about his struggle with addiction and he revealed in his 2022 memoir that he couldn’t watch the show because it reminded him of his use of alcohol and drugs at the time.
In the memoir titled Friends, Lovers, and the Big Terrible Thing, Perry said he ‘can’t watch the show back’ because he can see the physical signs of his disease.
“I was taking 55 Vicodin a day, I weighed 128 pounds, I was on Friends getting watched by 30 million people—and that’s why I can’t watch the show, ’cause I was brutally thin,” Perry said in a CBC interview last year.
“I didn’t watch the show, and haven’t watched the show, because I could go, ‘Drinking, opiates, drinking, cocaine',” he said. “I could tell season by season, by how I looked. That’s why I don’t wanna watch it, because that’s what I see.”
One fan complained: “This feels so wrong considering he battled alcoholism.”
Someone else wrote: “Anyone who’s seen his interviews and read his book would know that Friends was actually not what he wanted to be remembered for.”
While a third said: “You know he was an alcoholic, don’t you?”
In a statement shared with Tyla, the pub’s management said it had removed the cocktail from the menu.
"The cocktail was intended as a tribute to a beloved actor and icon, however we recognize that this was an error in judgement, and have removed the cocktail. "We are deeply regretful of any hurt that this has caused."
Topics: Matthew Perry, Friends, Australia
Gregory Robinson