Damon under fire for remarks
Cher, Messing school actor on response to sex assault
Matt Damon has come under fire from Cher and Debra Messing for new remarks he has made about the sexual misconduct scandals rocking Hollywood.
On Friday Damons’s ex-girlfriend Minnie Driver criticized him for making comments she believed played down the seriousness of sexual harassment.
In a new interview with the Business Insider website, Damon said he’d like people to focus more on the majority of men who aren’t sexual predators, rather than on those facing assault allegations like Kevin Spacey and Harvey Weinstein.
“We’re in this watershed moment, and it’s great, but I think one thing that’s not being talked about is there are a whole (lot) of guys — the preponderance of men I’ve worked with — who don’t do this kind of thing and whose lives aren’t going to be affected,” Damon said.
His latest comments provoked outrage and disbelief from his peers on social media, with Cher writing on Twitter, “BTW (by the way), one should not need or require applause for being a decent human being and not harassing or assaulting others, Matt Damon.”
Messing added, “Matt Damon — SERIOUSLY? You are a smart man. A privileged, white man. This is NOT the time to ask for a pat on the back. How about we NOT celebrate men who are simply decent human beings. Stay on track, Matt. It’s not about you.”
Later on in the interview Damon was asked if he’d work on a movie with someone accused of sexual misconduct, and said he’d be reluctant to, but would decide on a “case-by-case basis.”
His new comments come just days after Driver slammed him for remarks made in an interview with U.S. network ABC News.
In that interview he said people must be careful not to conflate harassment like “patting someone on the butt” with more serious offences such as “rape or child molestation.”
Driver, who co-starred in Damon’s 1997 movie Good Will Hunting, called out her ex on Twitter for his comments and told British newspaper The Guardian men “cannot understand what abuse is like” and that she felt the need to speak up to help men “get on the same page” as women on the subject.