Film

Matt Damon Is Getting Slammed For His Tone-Deaf Comments About Sexual Harassment

Defending Louis C.K. seems like a weird choice.

by Tom Clift  16 December 2017
Matt Damon

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Matt Damon is getting absolutely slammed on social media after making the very Matt Damon decision to share his opinions about sexual harassment and assault.

In an in-depth TV interview with American film critic Peter Travers, Damon was asked about the recent wave of accusations that have been levelled against various powerful men in Hollywood. To his credit, he started okay, telling Travers it was “wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories.” But this being the same Matt Damon who once lectured a black filmmaker about diversity and suggested that gay actors should maybe think about keeping their sexuality to themselves, it didn’t take long for things to go off the rails.

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“I do believe that there’s a spectrum of behavior, right?” said the actor. “There’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?”

“We’re so energised to kind of get retribution, I think, and we live in this culture of outrage and injury,” he continued. “We’re going to have to correct enough to kind of go, ‘wait a minute. None of us came here perfect.’ You know what I mean?”

The actor then went on to — and I swear I am not kidding here — offer a defence of comedian Louis C.K.

“I don’t do deep dives on this, but I did see [C.K.’s] statement,” Damon said. “When he came out and said, ‘I did this. I did these things. These women are all telling the truth.’ And I just remember thinking, ‘Well, that’s the sign of somebody who, well, we can work with that’.”

“The clear signal to men, and to young people, is ‘deny it’. Because if you take responsibility for what you did, your life’s going to get ruined. But if you deny it, you can be in the White House.”

“I don’t imagine he’s ever going to do those things again,” Damon added about C.K. “I imagine the price that he’s paid at this point is so beyond anything that he — I just think that we have to kind of start delineating between what these behaviors are.”

And keep in mind, this is before the conversation turned to Harvey Weinstein, with whom Damon has worked on a number of occasions.

“Nobody who made movies for him knew [about the rape allegations]” Damon insisted of the disgraced movie mogul. “Any human being would have put a stop to that, no matter who he was. They would’ve said absolutely no. You know what I mean? I knew I wouldn’t want him married to anyone close to me. But that was the extent of what we knew, you know?

“When you hear Harvey this, Harvey that — I mean, look at the guy. Of course he’s a womaniser,” the actor added.

Travers also asked Damon if the situation was more complicated when he knew the people involved in the allegations.

“It depends on what the accusation is,” Damon replied. “It depends what’s going on. If it’s a friend of mine, I’m always talking to them. I know the real story if it’s my friend. If it’s a colleague… I guess it depends on the situation and the allegation and how believable I think it is.”

Damon has since copped a barrage of criticism on social media, including from a number of prominent women in the entertainment industry.

You can watch the entire interview between Damon and Travers, below.