Friends: The Reunion director defends Matthew Perry from ‘unkind’ criticism over ‘slurred’ speech

Friends: The Reunion director Ben Winston has defended Matthew Perry from ‘unkind’ comments about the actor.

The long-awaited HBO Max special finally dropped on May 27, with fans concerned about the Chandler Bing star whose speech appeared to be slurred.

Sources close to the 51-year-old insisted he underwent a ‘painful’ dental procedure just hours before reuniting with his cast mates Jennifer Aniston, Matt LeBlanc, Lisa Kudrow, Courteney Cox and David Schwimmer.

Now Ben, whose production company with James Corden was behind the reunion, has insisted Matthew was nothing but a joy to work with.

‘He was great,’ he told The Hollywood Reporter’s Top 5 podcast. ‘People can sometimes just be unkind. I wish they weren’t.

‘I loved working with him. He’s a brilliantly funny man and I thought he had some great one-liners in the show.

‘I felt just happy and lucky to be in his presence and directing him on something like this.’

Friends creator Kevin S. Bright assured fans Matthew was ‘OK’ too.

‘I talked to him. It was great seeing him again,’ said the director. ‘And what people say is what people say.

People can sometimes just be unkind. I wish they weren’t.

‘I don’t have any[thing] to say about that, except it was great to see him. And I think he’s very funny on the show.’

During the special, Matthew shocked his co-stars when he explained how filming in front of a live studio audience would leave him with crippling anxiety.

‘At least to me, I felt like I was going to die if they didn’t laugh,’ he explained.  

‘It’s not healthy for sure but I would sometimes say a line and they wouldn’t laugh and I would sweat and just go into convulsions if I didn’t get the laugh I was supposed to get. I would freak out.’

‘You didn’t tell us that,’ Lisa said. ‘I don’t remember you ever saying that.’

‘Oh yeah, I felt like that every single night,’ he responded.

Friends: The Reunion is available to stream on NOW.

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