The core cast of ‘Friends’ being criticized for their silence on Matthew Perry’s death repeats one of the biggest issues with parasocial relationships

The death of Matthew Perry has hit a lot of people very hard, and one of the major reasons is because anybody who was a fan of Friends – which is a lot considering it’s one of the most popular, beloved, and iconic sitcoms of all-time – felt as if they knew him personally having spent so much time with Chandler Bing.

As much as the actor didn’t want his legacy to be defined by the role he played on the small screen for 10 years and over 200 episodes, he was smart and self-aware enough to know that Friends would always be the shadow that loomed over his entire career. As well as working together for a decade, the six principal cast members remained close off-screen as well, with various social media posts from the sextet over the years showing them reuniting, hanging out, and shooting the breeze.

As of yet, neither David Schwimmer, Matt LeBlanc, Jennifer Aniston, Courteney Cox, or Lisa Kudrow have publicly commented on the passing of their longtime friend and colleague, which in turn has opened the doors for some of social media’s less savory characters to actively criticize them for failing to issue a statement.

We’re not going to give any airtime to that sort of negativity here, but it’s a recurring issue of the parasocial dynamic some people form with celebrities they hold dear, with Paris Jackson recently passing judgement on those who blasted her for failing to acknowledge the anniversary of her father’s death on Instagram, as if she owed it to the world to share her grief.

Zendaya experienced it when she came under fire from certain quarters for failing to immediately share her thoughts on the passing of Euphoria‘s Angus Cloud until the day after the news broke, too, and while Page Six has claimed that Schwimmer, LeBlanc, Aniston, Cox, and Kudrow are preparing a joint statement, it’s something they aren’t obligated to do.

After all, they’ve just lost somebody who was a massive part of their individual and collective lives for nigh-on 30 years, making it both unfair and disrespectful for the online circuit to call them out for not opting to make a tribute post in a public forum their first port of call when that’s not how grieving is supposed to work.