Schwimmer, surveying his conquest. Image by Getty Images

“Friends” actor David Schwimmer will be there for you when the rain starts to pour, even if you are a foreign police department looking for a beer bandit.

Yes, in a brief departure from the ‘round the clock horror show that is the news cycle, we bring you a friendly collaboration between a beloved Jewish actor and the British police force that apprehended his lookalike at last:

Remember the “Friends” beer theft story?. Police have now arrested the David Schwimmer lookalike in Southall, London. He’s being questioned on suspicion of theft from a shop in Blackpool. The American actor tweeted his own image of the incident and told police “It wasn’t me!”. pic.twitter.com/IlN3Y7sEeA

Forwarding the News

Thoughtful, balanced reporting from the Forward and around the web, bringing you updated news and analysis each day.

Terms(Required)

I agree to the Forward's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy

Email(Required)

— BBC North West (@BBCNWT) November 13, 2018

Jewish actor Schwimmer was nearly pulled into a life of crime in late October, when fans noted that a suspected thief caught on camera by the Lancashire Police Department strongly resembled the square-jawed, tufty-haired Schwimmer. Schwimmer was gracious enough to reenact the beer heist in a viral Twitter clip, and was cheerfully exonerated by the good people of the UK, and the world.

On Tuesday, Lancashire police announced that they caught the real culprit, a 36-year-old man, in Southall, and thanked Schwimmer for his “support.”

Now that Schwimmer’s name is cleared and he is the acclaimed writer, star, and director of a viral video clip, we hope he will devote himself to making a “Friends” reunion happen. We’ll bring the beer.

Jenny Singer is the deputy lifestyle editor for the Forward. You can reach her at [email protected] or on Twitter @jeanvaljenny

The Forward is free to read, but it isn’t free to produce

I hope you appreciated this article. Before you go, I’d like to ask you to please support the Forward.

Now more than ever, American Jews need independent news they can trust, with reporting driven by truth, not ideology. We serve you, not any ideological agenda.

At a time when other newsrooms are closing or cutting back, the Forward has removed its paywall and invested additional resources to report on the ground from Israel and around the U.S. on the impact of the war, rising antisemitism and polarized discourse.

Readers like you make it all possible. We’ve started our Passover Fundraising Drive, and we need 1,800 readers like you to step up to support the Forward by April 21. Members of the Forward board are even matching the first 1,000 gifts, up to $70,000.

This is a great time to support independent Jewish journalism, because every dollar goes twice as far.

—  Rachel Fishman Feddersen, Publisher and CEO

2X match on all Passover gifts!

$90 → $180 $180 → $360

$360 → $720

Other amount