On Sunday, I followed the BAFTA ceremony on the BAFTAs social media account, where they were posting videos and updates. After the In Memoriam section aired during the telecast, there was a sudden kerfuffle in the Twitter comments – people were outraged that Matthew Perry had been left out of the tributes for artists who had passed away in the past year. The poor BAFTA social media person kept posting the same explanation to everyone complaining, which was that Perry would be memorialized during the upcoming BAFTA Television Awards. People were NOT happy.
The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has responded to online backlash over Matthew Perry’s absence from the 2024 EE BAFTA Film Awards’ In Memoriam segment on Sunday. 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.
On X (formerly Twitter), 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.”
Some were perplexed by Perry’s absence, calling it “shockingly bad” and a “shocking omission.”
Others simply sought an explanation, writing, “Why wasn’t [Matthew Perry] included in the memorial sequence???”
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.
As I said, I felt bad for the social media person, because they were really under siege from people who outraged by BAFTA’s decision. I even sort of thought that the social media person probably disagreed with the decision, given they made a point of responding to several critics (thus probably making it into a bigger deal). It was such a stupid call by the BAFTAs, to gatekeep which deceased actors were “worthy” of the BAFTA Film memorial. While Perry was absolutely more famous for his television work, he appeared in fourteen films, including The Whole Nine Yards (an expected hit). His loss was devastating to the acting community entirely, regardless of whether he was “film actor” or “television actor.” This whole thing is so utterly snobby.
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- 162953, Matthew Perry attends the premiere of ‘The Kennedys: After Camelot’ at The Paley Center for Media in Beverly Hills. Los Angeles, California – Wednesday March 15, 2017. Photograph: © PacificCoastNews. Los Angeles Office (PCN): +1 310.822.0419 UK Office (Photoshot): +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 sales@pacificcoastnews.com FEE MUST BE AGREED PRIOR TO USAGE,Image: 532918972, License: Rights-managed, Restrictions: WORLD RIGHTS, DIRECT SALES ONLY UNLESS STATED OTHERWISE IN CAPTION – Fee Payable Upon Reproduction – For queries contact Avalon.red – sales@avalon.red London: +44 (0) 20 7421 6000 Los Angeles: +1 (310) 822 0419 Berlin: +49 (0) 30 76 212 251 Madrid: +34 91 533 4289, Model Release: no, Credit line: PacificCoastNews / Avalon
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- New York, NY – Matthew Perry signs autographs as he leaves his hotel this afternoon in Tribeca. Pictured: Matthew Perry BACKGRID USA 1 NOVEMBER 2022 BYLINE MUST READ: BlayzenPhotos / BACKGRID USA: +1 310 798 9111 / usasales@backgrid.com UK: +44 208 344 2007 / uksales@backgrid.com *UK Clients – Pictures Containing Children Please Pixelate Face Prior To Publication*
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- Celebrities At ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Featuring: Matthew Perry Where: New York, New York, United States When: 01 Nov 2022 Credit: ROGER WONG/INSTARimages.com/Cover Images
I don’t have an opinion on BAFTA – as a rule, anything William touches is going to make people cringe.
But it is funny that of all the friends actors, Perry is the only one who made good movies.
The Whole Nine Yards and Fools Rush In were actually both really funny, and he was funny in them.
Kate Beckinsale went on the warpath with BAFTA a few weeks ago over them snubbing her producer stepdad and telling her he will be in the TV BAFTAS. Are they much less prestigious or something that it is such a blow?
Trying to think of ways that will lessen the outrage over literally every In Memoriam presentation, I wonder if the organising body publishing the list in the days beforehand could help?
Kate Beckinsale wasn’t upset that he wasn’t being included in the TV section, she was angry, because the initial email that they sent to her just said they weren’t sure he would be included at all. Her late stepfather was a prolific, British television, producer, and director, and she was incredibly offended that they basically said he wasn’t famous or important enough to be included in any memorial section, even though he’s won the highest honor that they give for television work. It wasn’t about the fact that it was the other ceremony it was that the letter implied. They weren’t sure they could be bothered at all. It’s kind of unfair to say that she was being snobby about which one he was included in, when the issue was, she felt their email was very rude and dismissive, and she received it only a couple of days after his death. She shared the email and it was very cold.
Grief, everyone needs to calm down, Bafta have a film arm and tv arm. There is limited space in each memorial segment so they don’t want to duplicate. When you think of Matthew Perry you think of TV first. Imagine the outcry if they left him out of the TV memorial segment.
Because there are rules against covering someone twice for different types of work?
I think they don’t cover people twice because of the limited space. There are so many people to honor, and the bulk of his work was tv, so it makes more sense there.
I wonder if the Oscars was already planning on including him, or if they are going to add him now after this backlash?
Awards shows always gate keep who’s in the memorial segment trying to balance the public talent, behind the scenes talent, and the business people.
Specific to Matthew, this is a British film organization and it’s possible his films weren’t big in Britain while his work in TV is very big so recognizing him at the TV BAFTAS makes sense. It’s like the Emmy and Oscar memorial segments have some overlap but aren’t identical.
Exactly what I thought
I don’t understand the expectation about Perry if he was never in a film or series that was at the very least produced by a British company. Were there others included who were in non-British produced films that were merely popular over there?
They’re probably just upset that Harry mentioned feeling like he was Chandler Bing in his book and how he had a crush on Monica from Friends. Revenge by the Brits!
I’m kidding…sort of.
How sad that, yes, that is believable since Prince BAFTA the Petty has proven to be such a bell end.
This happened last year, with the actor Bernard Cribbens – he had a significant body of film work, but wasn’t included in the film awards memorial section because he was better known for his TV work. He was included in the TV awards later in the year.
I at least understand that outrage for him since he is from the UK and was in UK produced films. I’m struggling to find Perry’s obvious connection to British film.
They should have known better, tbh. Friends is massive here, bigger than it was in the states, and multigenerationally impactful. It’s not something remembered as a past phenomenon, literally teenagers now know it.
And while it’s on brand for the bureaucracy to sniff about which formal category makes the most sense, the reality is no one sees the TV BAFTAS so this was the bigger (and only real) showcase. So by not including him they created their own mess.