The Register Citizen (Torrington, CT)

Petition to have Damon booted from ‘Ocean’s 8’ gets attention

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“Ocean’s 8” could have one less famous face if petitioner­s have their way.

An online petition to remove Matt Damon from the female-centered “Ocean’s 8” after his controvers­ial comments about sexual harassment and assault in the industry has reached more than 18,000 signatures — just shy of its “goal” of 19,000.

“Damon’s inclusion would trivialize the serious nature of the charges against sexual abusers like Weinstein — (and) show massive disrespect for the brave women speaking out. It would also send a terrible message about the inevitabil­ity of — and lack of accountabi­lity for — sexual harassment in the workplace that four in ten American women experience,” the petition read.

Damon faced serious criticism after an interview with ABC News in which the

“Jason Bourne” star defended Louis C.K. and said not all of the recently publicized cases are equal.

“There’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestatio­n, right?” Damon said in a new interview with ABC News’ Peter Travers. “Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?” the 47-year-old said in the interview.

The actor gave another interview to Business Insider in which he said he would work with accused harassers depending on the story. He worked with Harvey Weinstein in the past, including on his breakout movie “Good Will Hunting” with pal Ben Affleck.

“I mean, I wouldn’t want to work with somebody who — life’s too short for that,” he told Business Insider. “But the question of if somebody had allegation­s against them, you know, it would be a case-by-case basis. You go, ‘What’s the story here?’”

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