Matthew Perry once shut down a problematic and potentially homophobic gay storyline in Friends

Five people, including a woman named Jasveen Sangha, have been arrested and charged with providing Friends star Matthew Perry with the ketamine that caused his death last year, authorities have announced.

Perry, 54, was found dead in his hot tub at his L.A. home on 29 October 2023.

US Attorney E. Martin Estrada held a press conference on Thursday (15 August), and said the suspects include Perry’s personal assistant, two doctors, and a North Hollywood woman – Jasveen Sangha – known as “the Ketamine Queen.”

The two doctors, Salvador Plasencia and Mark Chavez, allegedly worked to procure large quantities of ketamine for Perry. Plasencia is believed to have sent text messages to Chavez about Perry that read: “I wonder how much this moron will pay,” and “Let’s find out.”

Matthew Perry was beloved for his role as Chandler Bing in the hit 90s sitcom Friends. A few years ago it emerged that he was responsible for shutting down a potentially problematic gay storyline about his character.

Although it’s still much-loved and has a legion of fans around the world, Friends is one of those cult classic shows that, sadly, hasn’t aged all that well when it comes to some issues, such as LGBTQ+ acceptance and fatphobia.

In the long-running sitcom, Chandler Bing was the son of a transgender drag artist who starred in her own Las Vegas residency, titled Viva Las Gaygas.

Matthew Perry just “said no” to the pitched homophobic plot

Played by Kathleen Turner, Chandler’s trans parent was often ridiculed and mocked, particularly in her debut episode in 2001, titled “The One With Chandler’s Dad.”

Throughout, Chandler refused to recognise her gender identity, using her dead name “Charles” rather than her chosen name “Helena”.

After his death, Turner paid tribute to Perry. Speaking to People, Turner said that it had been “at least ten years” since she bumped into Perry, but that he was a hard person to forget.

“He had a good sense of humor and a good heart. he liked other people, which, to me, is terribly important, especially for an actor,” she told the magazine.

“He came to see one of my Broadway shows and he came backstage,” she recalled. 

“When he saw me, he yelled out, ‘Hey dad’ and everyone thought it was pretty cool. I think it was for Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf.”

However, in his 2019 book, Generation Friends: An Inside Look At The Show That Defined a Television Era, author and pop historian Saul Austerlitz claims Perry shut down a pretty homophobic storyline.

According to the book, the plot-line would have seen Chandler dine out in a gay bar because it does the best tuna melts.

The simple fact of Chandler being a straight man in a gay bar would have been the source of comedy, apparently. Austerlitz explained: “Perry said no, and the story was shelved.”

Marta Kauffman: “We didn’t have the knowledge about trans people back then”

Also in 2019, ahead of the 25th anniversary of the show first airing, Friends co-creator Kauffman admitted that the running gag of Chandler’s casual homophobia and transphobia is something she has come to regret.

“I think we didn’t have the knowledge about transgender people back then,” she recounted, “so I’m not sure if we used the appropriate terms.

“I don’t know if I would have known those terms back then. I think that’s the biggest one.”

She added: “Every time I watch an episode, there’s something I wish I could have changed.”

Kauffman also referenced an episode in which guest star Brad Pitt plays a childhood friend of Ross and Rachel who spread a “rumour that Rachel was a hermaphrodite”.