NEW YORK CITY, NY – Sitting down with Kathie Lee Gifford in the Today show last Tuesday, Matt Damon opened up regarding his controversial comments on sexual misconduct in Hollywood. He admitted that he should have listened a lot more before he weighed in and gave his two cents on the issue.
Gifford shared that Matt Damon was a good listener, trailing off to the topic. However, Damon insists on explaining his side. He clarified that he did not want to add to somebody’s pain by doing or saying anything. After his comment, he apologized to the audience. He also added that the initiative of the Time’s Up movement is truly personal to him.
The 47-year-old actor took the time to elaborate on how a lot of the women involved in the movement are his dear friends. He expressed his love and respect for them. Damon also declared that he supports their movement and he wants to be a part of the change they are fighting for. He ended his statement by saying he should “get in the backseat” and close his mouth for a while, to stop commenting on the controversy.
For a brief refresher, it can be recalled in Matt Damon’s interview with Peter Travers in ABC News last December that he had strong opinions about assault scandals and sexual harassments. This was also related to the controversy and allegations against Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein, and Louis C.K. The audience was taken by how he explained his belief that there was a difference between “child molestation” and “patting someone on the butt.”
Damon also added that the two mentioned behaviors should not be combined or conflated as they have different levels. He mentioned that sharing stories of mistreatment and sexual harassment was necessary to make a woman feel empowered, but he wanted to bring up more attention to the levels of it or its “spectrum.”
After the ABC News interview, Minnie Driver and Alyssa Milano used Twitter to shame Damon’s comments by explaining that “micro makes the macro.” Milano pointed out that they are outraged as Damon tried to normalize the act of grabbing someone’s bum.
On the other hand, Driver wrote that sexual misconduct assault and rape should not be differentiated as an excuse. Driver briefly dated Damon in the 1990s. Driver also shared her confusion on why Matt Damon would defend Louis C.K. and how the society is in trouble if good men like Damon have that kind of thinking. Louis C.K. was accused of sexual misconduct, receiving allegations from five women.
Matt Damon is the star of Good Will Hunting and Saving Private Ryan. He was also the face and the founder of H20 Africa Foundation which tackles issues about initiatives related to clean waters in Africa. Moreover, Damon is also the ambassador for ONEXONE, a nonprofit organization which caters the need of the children at home in Canada. With this controversy, Matt stated that the slams he received regarding his comments on sexual misconduct turned out to be very helpful for him.
