Justin Trudeau says he wants to "punch" Chandler Bing; Matthew Perry responds
Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and actor Matthew Perry, famous for playing Chandler Bing on the popular TV sitcom “Friends,” have some history.
And it’s clear there’s at least one encounter with the “Friends” star that Trudeau has been holding onto for longer than a day, a week a month, or even a year — that time Perry picked on him in grade school.
Two weeks ago, during an appearance on “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” the 47-year-old actor revealed what he described as a “terrible” encounter when he was a fifth-grader.
“My friend Chris Murray, who was also in the fifth grade in Canada, reminded me that we actually beat up Justin Trudeau,” he admitted.
As a 10-year-old — two years older than Trudeau at the time — Perry admitted he was jealous. Trudeau was excelling at a sport he wasn’t as good at.
“I think he was the only kid in school we could beat up,” said Perry, adding that Trudeau’s father, Pierre, was prime minister of the country at the time. “I’m not bragging about this. This is terrible, I was a stupid kid. I didn’t want to beat him up. In fact, I think at one point I tried to turn it into love play.”
But Trudeau, now 45, apparently didn’t feel the love, and now that he’s all grown up, it seems like payback time.
“I’ve been giving it some thought, and you know what, who hasn’t wanted to punch Chandler? How about a rematch @MatthewPerry?” Trudeau tweeted on Saturday, which also happened to be April Fools’ Day.
The tweet went viral with more than 12,000 retweets and 33,000 likes. Thousands of people even jokingly made bets on who would be victorious.
However, it looks like they’ll never get a chance to find out. Perry pulled a Chandler, politely passing on going up against the prime minister.
“I think I will pass at your request for a rematch kind sir (given that you currently have an army at your disposal),” Perry replied on Sunday.
After all, Perry gave Trudeau credit for taking the high road all of these years.
“I think [the fight] was rather instrumental in him going to such great heights and becoming the prime minister,” Perry said in his TV appearance. “I think it was, you know, I think he said, ‘I’m going to rise above this, and I’m going to become prime minister.”
“And destroy those two boys,” Jimmy Kimmel joked.
“Yeah, exactly. He rose above both of us,” Perry said.
It’s true. And this time around, Trudeau managed to get Perry to forfeit — without even raising a fist.
