Matt Damon has set himself up for fierce criticism online by making a horrifying admission during a high profile interview.
The Oscar-winning actor, 50, who is currently promoting his new film Stillwater, revealed that he only ceased to use a homophobic term “months” ago, and only because he was told off by his daughter.
Speaking to the Sunday Times, the Good Will Hunting star was discussing “changes in modern masculinity” when he offered up the story.
He explained that he was having a meal with his family when he used what the paper described as “the most taboo term for gay people” – and his children were far from impressed.
“The word that my daughter calls the ‘f-slur for a homosexual’ was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application,” he explained.
“I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter. She left the table.”
“I said, ‘Come on, that’s a joke! I say it in the movie ‘Stuck on You!’’” Damon argued, referencing the slapstick comedy he was in almost 20 years ago.
“She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, ‘I retire the f-slur!’ I understood.”
His comments were met with incredulity and fury on social media, with comedian Travon Free tweeting:
So Matt Damon just figured out "months ago", by way of a "treatise" from a child, that he's not supposed to say the word f*ggot.
— Travon Free (@Travon) August 1, 2021
Months ago.
Months ago. pic.twitter.com/g8MRR39yVR
Here’s what other Twitter commentators had to say:
I want to know what word Matt Damon has replaced f****t with.
— billy eichner (@billyeichner) August 1, 2021
Matt Damon’s daughter: pic.twitter.com/ddxZ9SS8Xg
— Daniel D'Addario (@DPD_) August 1, 2021
Matt Damon arriving home to check Twitter pic.twitter.com/XV2l08JkK8
— Tom Reagan’s Hat (@RufusTSuperfly) August 1, 2021
i hope matt damon's daughter is having a good day pic.twitter.com/we48diz9M7
— olivia (@dadswhotweet) August 1, 2021
I’ve lost some respect for Matt Damon for two reasons:
— Mrs. Betty Bowers (@BettyBowers) August 1, 2021
1. Being a 51-year-old Harvard-educated person who only realized using homophobic slurs was a bad thing *months* ago; and
2. Being foolish enough to think that was a cute story he should share with the world. pic.twitter.com/WtudX2fGtb
The fact that Matt Damon’s daughter had to explain to him that saying a slur is wrong is insane pic.twitter.com/KeOIlxRZP8
— Cedrica (@iamcedrica) August 1, 2021
the funniest part of the matt damon interview is when he says that “f*ggot” meant something different when he was a kid bc bro no it didn’t pic.twitter.com/6tMEKVTssN
— matt (@mattxiv) August 1, 2021
As a member of the press, I like when celebrities talk to the press, but it's always illuminating to hear the stories that folks like Liam Neeson or Matt Damon think are humanizing and charming, but actually reveal insulation and isolation (among other unsavory stuff) instead. https://t.co/OZzDlyW72O
— Daniel Fienberg (@TheFienPrint) August 1, 2021
This latter comment refers to when fellow actor Liam Neeson publicly admitted that he’d once sought to kill an innocent Black man after someone close to him was raped.
During his Sunday Times interview, Damon said he generally tries to “shut the f*** up more” so that his remarks don’t make headlines.
“Twenty years ago, the best way I can put it is that the journalist listened to the music more than the lyrics [of an interview],” he said.
“Now your lyrics are getting parsed, to pull them out of context and get the best headline possible. Everyone needs clicks. Before it didn’t really matter what I said, because it didn’t make the news. But maybe this shift is a good thing. So I shut the f*** up more.”
How’s that working out for you, Matt?
