Here are some photos of Matt Damon and his wife Luciana at the Sunday night premiere of Suburbicon in LA. Luciana’s dress isn’t great – I always think that women who have a bust size bigger than a B-cup shouldn’t wear such high-necked dresses. That kind high neck or halter will always give a busty woman a “stubby/no-neck” look.
Anyway, the more that’s come out about Harvey Weinstein and what various people knew and when they knew it and how little they did about it just reinforces this whole idea that… Matt Damon’s initial statement was incomplete. I take him at face value that he wasn’t trying to shut down a New York Times exposé about Weinstein in 2004, but that doesn’t change the fact that for two decades, Harvey Weinstein was preying on women all around Matt Damon, including Matt’s costars and friends. At best, Matt was willfully ignorant. At worst… well, who knows? Anyway, at the premiere, Matt once again said some words about Weinstein:
He hopes the Weinstein scandal will help all women come forward: “To me, the message is that if somebody as powerful as Harvey can be brought down by this what we need is for it to filter all the way down to somebody who is a single mom and a waitress who is getting harassed while she’s punching out [of work] and she’s afraid to speak up because she’s going to lose her job and she needs her job. What we need is for her to be able to say, ‘I’m allowed to speak up because this is wrong.’ That’s hopefully where this is going.”
He thinks social media is a powerful way for victims to tell their stories: “Social media has been great in the sense that these really brave women who stepped up first and who took that chance and made their voices heard allowed all of these other women to understand they’re not alone. It’s turning into this avalanche and that’s what’s needed.”
What he’ll do to be a part of the “major change” in the industry: “I’ve been in the business for 20 years. I know a lot of great men in this business and men who don’t use their power in that way. I like to feel that I’ve always done that and that women have always felt safe in the environments I’ve worked in and the men that I’ve worked with, the George Clooneys and the Steven Soderberghs [where] the workplace is sacred and valued and equal and fair. Everybody’s got a new awareness about it now.”
“I know a lot of great men in this business and men who don’t use their power in that way.” But if they did use their power in that way, Matt Damon wouldn’t know because he’ll turn a blind eye on it for twenty years, right? Boys will be boys, and great men will be allowed to be great just as long as dozens of women don’t come forward to talk about how not-great they really are. I don’t mean to pick on Matt Damon specifically, he’s just sort of emblematic of how men protect each other and how the system of male dominance and oppression regroups after a scandal. It feels like Damon is saying – with the statement of “I know a lot of great men in this business and men who don’t use their power in that way” – is the “nothing to see here, Harvey Weinstein was the only problem and now he’s out and everything is fine now” defense that a lot of men will be using.
Photos courtesy of WENN.
Matt Damon has become quite problematic. I used to love him back in the day.
He’s always been problematic.
Yup. I am waiting for him and Clooney to be expossed for sth… there was always sth weird about them.
Damon’s whole view of the situation, changing stories, it stinks and he’s gonna go down. He is poster dude for men in charge.
You’re right, of course, but why is he getting dragged so badly about the Weinstein abuse? I personally think he’s lying about not knowing but the trend here seems to be we’re not going to drag actors for that because they may have had reasons and the focus should stay on Weinstein. So otherwise what has Damon done wrong? Sincere question.
For me, Matt showed his a$$ when he was dismissive to the black female director who questioned diversity in the film. He comes off to me, as a man who is dismissive of any person or idea that’s contrary to how he sees the world. I don’t think he’s evil or a scumbag like some, but I do think he suffers from a severe case of white male privilege.
Iknow
Oh yes, I was aware of/agreed with that outrage. Damon is a whitesplaining, mansplaining asshat for sure but I was referring to the Weinstein stuff.
My problem with Matt Damon has to do with how he used his power to shut down articles and bury Casey Affleck’s sexual harrassment allegations during last year’s Oscar campaign. No one was supposed to question Casey about those allegations and Casey was only supposed to be judged on the merit of his performance. (Which honestly, I didn’t think was worthy of winning Best Actor.) So yeah Damon knows how to weld power when it suits his purpose and he helped shield an alleged sexual predator.
It startet with his “Whitesplaining” for me: Damon then claimed diversity was not necessarily an issue for them to consider when choosing a director, but that it should be the focus during the casting process.
“When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show.”
Now it just seems weak that he worked closely with him for years and just now is saying: But not all men are bad. Well Matt, he was and what did you do? Yup, collecting your Oscar.
I think it seems this is one more thing about Damon.
He’s found himself in hotwater or hotwater adjacent in recent years, and in trying to give his version of events, he puts his foot in it.
I presume that on this occasion he is exceptionally irritating and thus getting dragged more than others because no one is in the mood for his BS which he includes in every attempt to explain himself.
There is a way to explain yourself without putting your foot in it and further infuriating everyone, but i am afraid Damon has proved himself incapable of figuring that out.
And right now, he needs to stop talking or he will find himself in stocks with rotten fruit being thrown at him, metaphorically speaking.
Ilsa
The NYT reporter who tried to do the first Weinstein piece has taken to social media several times to acknowledge that neither Damon nor Crowe had any knowledge about what she was planning to write and did not attempt to excuse any sexual misconduct/abuse. I have to take her at her word. Everything else I knew and agree with, of course.
As for him not reporting Weinstein and collecting his Oscars we’ve pretty much agreed that we shouldn’t judge Streep, Lawrence, Paltrow etc for salvaging their careers. And yes, the Casey Affleck stuff is vile but again, it was loosely agreed here that although Blake Lively and Rose McGowan have also willingly worked with predators it is irrelevant in the face of this Weinstein shit storm.
Look, it makes me cringe to unknowingly listen to what Damon has to say here *if* he’s done something in all of this Weinstein mss that I’m unaware of but otherwise I want to try to look at all of this objectively. A lot is at stake.
LAK
I think you may have hit on a Damon truth here. Despite the rep approved talking points his organic hubris always clouds the issues and hijacks the conversation. Well-meaning just doesn’t work when you’re tone deaf and arrogant. Lol is there an actor’s version of the Hippocratic oath?
This isn’t about creating a safe space for women to come forward, it’s about ending systematic sexual assault and harassment in Hollywood. Damon has missed the point entirely.
Just read NYDailynews article where Matt Damon said he knew about Gwen Paltrow because Ben Affleck told him.
PS. Really like this site. Really enjoy you commenters. Been reading for a while first time posting. Your comments are always thoughtful and that’s nice to see.
@EA
Matt Damon likes being likable and it is his brand, but he is also guilty of being willfully ignorant when it comes to issues around him. He lacks sincerity.
The actresses can’t come forward in a system when the guys trying to seem supportive are as dense as Matt. Actresses are the victims in the industry system, and he never took the time to recognize this even quietly to himself? The actresses have only to discuss what they are prepared to reveal and still have to be careful to save their careers.
Asia Argento has had to leave Italy because of the cruelty of the Italian press.
Whoever would have thought Damon would be less willing to honestly examine the ugly truths of Weinstein’s ugliness than a Tarantino?
I’m with Enough Already. I don’t get why Matt Damon has become the whipping boy for the entire Weinstein sh$t. What is up with that? I am also sincerely asking what is really going one here?
Enough already: “Well-meaning just doesn’t work when you’re tone deaf and arrogant” perfectly explains the problem of Damon.
Ditto this: “Damon would be less willing to honestly examine the ugly truths” applicable in all negative situations he finds himself.
He likes to have it both ways – that’s what. Such as …
Now he says – “I’ve been in the business for 20 years. I know a lot of great men in this business and men who don’t use their power in that way.”
Well according to him he didn’t know about Harvey, so how would he know one way or another about ‘alot of great men in this business’ ” . So he’s saying he did know.
I agree. Why should other actors have to now be dragged into the Weinstein debacle? If every person had to act on every injustice another person does, it would be ridiculous. People have their own everyday problems without taking on other peoples bad behaviour.
Weinstein needs to be the focus, not what other people do or not do. If I spoke up on every bodies bad behaviour, I would be in the fetal position.
He’s been problematic. And I was a huge fan. But nope. After talking to Effie on an off chance meeting after that situation blew up I was done with him
Yeah… Note how he goes on to talk about all the great powerful men who make women feel safe but says ABSOLUTELY NOTHING about how more women at all of the highest levels and in power is what is really needed to combat this kind of thing. It’s like the thought never even occurred to him.
Matt Damon just seems to be incapable of being introspective.
Ugh. every other word he says is problematic. Cant stand him!!
I know. We sort of expect Damon to be more woke but he is best friends with the Afflecks. They grew up together so probably that should be the hint as for what kind of person he is
While women have been coming out in droves sharing their stories of harassment and assault, Damon is turning around and saying #NotAllMen ugh ffs.
I know right?! Wouldn’t it be nice for once just to be able to speak out about an injustice without certain groups of people coming forward to make it all about them. I am increasingly dumbfounded at this attention seeking behaviour. Bizarre.
This about women speaking up BECAUSE they know the employment and justice systems will respond. He keeps leaving that part out. This isn’t an opportunity for more women to be “brave.” This is an opportunity for men in power to cut this shut out and send some of their kind to jail.
What does it say that he knows a lot a great men that aren’t predators? It says there’s a ton of men out there, and out of the very many he knows, some are actually good men. So let’s just give the criminal abusers a pass because they’re just not good men.
It’s the “a few bad apples” theory of sexism, rather than the “patriarchy is systematic oppression of women” theory. So convenient.
Precisely.
Hey, now, what he says is so true. For instance, I know a lot of great people who aren’t serial killers. So can’t we just end the hoopla about serial killers?
My first thought was as well: but if MD didn’t know about Weinstein, how can he be sure those great men aren’t abusing their power? I’m just waiting over here for MD to explain this to me.
Excellent point, I’ll be waiting with you.
Me three. Think about it Damon. You can’t have it both ways.
I’m getting us coffee, tea and snacks, because this might take a while.
Shut up Matt Damon.
Yeah, I’m done. this is the last article on Damon that I read. And I won’t be turning up and wasting coins on his movies. And while I’m at it, I won’t take him as a character reference for anybody either. He’s guilty by association in my books. Because he benefits from too many shady friendships.
Why won’t he just shut up? He’s happy to defend Casey Affleck and god knows who else.
What’s scary is that he actually thinks he’s a good person!
what’s even scarier is he probably thinks THEY are good people.
ellieohara, when did Matt Damon defend Casey Affleck for his behavior? In fact, when has he defended Ben Affleck for his behavior?
It’s one thing to call someone out when they’ve actually done something despicable but it’s another thing entirely to just make up sh$t for the sake of saying it just because you don’t like someone. It feels to me like that is what’s happening here. Matt Damon hasn’t done any more or any less than the other men in Weinstein’s orbit who are getting the benefit of the doubt play here. Even Ben Afflect who has been the ‘he harassed me!’ story as well, is getting the benefit of the doubt treatment on this. Why is Matt Damon the designated as$$$le for all the Weinstein anger here?
Come on Pamela, I used to like Matt a lot, I seriously thought he was one of the few decent guy out there. He did his best last year to preserve Casey’s oscar chances for a movie he also produce. He is a huge hypocrite.
” As Lainey Gossip’s Lainey Lui pointed out at the time, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon were incredibly visible during the campaign, posing as a trio with Casey at premieres as the Best Actor race heated up. Damon, who produced Manchester by the Sea, praised its star in multiple interviews, calling Casey “one of the best actors I’ve ever met”—someone “I grew up with and loved dearly.” In an article for The Cut, Allie Jones proposed that it was Casey’s proximity to these A-List stars that protected his career after 2010 sexual harassment allegations resurfaced. “Luckiest for Affleck, he is the brother of a major movie star and the childhood friend of another,” Jones wrote. “This brotherly posing makes prestige outlets hesitant to ask the younger Affleck tough questions, for fear of losing access to all three stars. His cruise to the Oscars continues undeterred because of his privileged position in Hollywood.”
tuxedo2201, so in other words, he was doing his job as a producer. He wasn’t Casey Affleck’s agent, he was one of four producers for the film and promoted it not just for Casey Affleck but for Michelle Williams and all of the other actors and actresses in the film as well. He promoted the film for director Kenneth Lonergan and the cinematographer and the film editor.
And again, not once did he make excuses for Casey Affleck’s behavior nor has he made excuses for Ben Affleck’s behavior. Are you responsible for your friends’ behavior? Are you responsible for your husband or wife’s behavior? How about your co-worker or your boss? Would you quit your job if you suspected or discovered that a co-worker or your boss harassed someone at work?
All the talk around here about wives and girlfriends not being responsible for their husband’s or boyfriend’s behavior even if they are aware of what he’s doing. Why doesn’t that extend to male friends as well?
And no one protected Casey Affleck. Two of his victims sued him and he ended up settling both cases out of court and had to give them due professional credit for their work. News of his sexual harassment cases was reported by media outlets at the time all around the world. I read about it in The Guardian.
Matt cast Casey in the moving KNOWING what he did about him. That says it all, doesn’t it? It didn’t matter how Casey treated women…he hired him in spite of that knowledge.
Also, during an interview, Matt described Casey as being the most honest man or something like that?
And yeah, you are responsible if you participate in covering up said behavior, IMO.
Exactly! If he cares about this issue, he might wanna spare a thought for the producer and cinematogrpaher who said Casey abused them for months. In light of the fact that even famous actresses don’t dare bring these cases forward, imagine what they must have gone through & how confident of their cases they were.
I liked Damon in The Talented Mr Ripley. It seemed to be a role he really understood. But I was never a fan.
Again, his statement may be heartfelt now, but he was swimming with sharks, so I suspect he knew.
Shut up Matt. I still don’t trust you. He’s probably relieved this movie is a likely flop and won’t figure in awards season. He needs to disappear for awhile.
But hey Matt do you really need those Good Will Hunting residuals (or your other Miramax residuals)? How about some action like Kevin Smith took instead of more empty words.
He just didn’t entirely think things through. If he didn’t know what Weinstein was doing in private, he can’t really know who has not been doing such things.
It all hinges on women feeling free to immediately speak up about it, which actually is what he was saying in his comments. Women in all workplaces need to be able to say “no” and out these guys right away without losing their jobs, because what they are doing is not only immoral but it is also illegal. The most difficult situation, though, is when the guy is the one who hires and fires, even in some cases the owner of the business.
But the key thing is to get this on the same level as any other crime.
I think a lot of people probably need to take a step back and evaluate who they speak up for. There’s a lot of us out there that will say “So and so seems like a good person. I like them” based on our personal interactions with them. It’s weird to have only positive interactions with someone and then hear that other people don’t have the same kind of stories to tell. It’s always confusing when that kind of thing happens – and it’s definitely not just a Hollywood thing.
My husband told me the other day that a hardware store owner had apparently chewed out someone he knew that was working there in front of all the other staff. He was surprised and told me he’d always considered him to be a nice guy. I asked him how often he interacted with him – it was only brief interactions here and there with my husband as the customer. I pointed out to him that that doesn’t really constitute knowing someone, and he agreed. But it wasn’t something he would have ever really thought about. I know I’ve been guilty of that sort of thing plenty of times too – but I think now, more than ever, we really need to start looking at who we’re vouching for. There’s definitely a difference between saying “They’ve always been kind to me” and saying “They’re a good person”. There’s only so many people that I can genuinely say “they’re a good person” because I know them on a deep enough, personal level to feel comfortable making that kind of judgement – but there are so many people out there who turn out to be absolute monsters and there’s ALWAYS people who are completely surprised by that kind of revelation. Heck, there are plenty of folks who had interacted with people who turned out to be serial killers and they were shocked by that news because they had never been awful to them. Humans are far too complex to be able to chalk up to ‘totally good’ or ‘totally awful’ with any ease.
It’s like he’s discovered a verbal copy/paste shortcut or something. Others have said it and much better so this feels pointless coming from him now.
Also … how does he know they don’t use their power to intimdate and harrass? I’m not implying that Steven Spielberg harrasses anyone but don’t mention specific dudes at this point. It seems like a terrible idea.
It’s a bit of a #notallmen response. I have never been a huge fan of his but to be fair to him, I suspect he’s having a hard time accepting that he surrounded himself with predators.
I don’t thick so he knew who Ben and Casey are for years and he most had a hit to what Harvey was up to. Don’t let his boy next store image fool you.
That’s some interesting body language in those photos. He’s leaning waaaaaay over towards her! We feel you, Luciana.
Also, wasn’t she previously a single mom working as a waitress/bartender? Did he just tell her #metoo story?
I’m not a pick-the-pic-apart person, and yes, it’s just a quick moment captured and all that, but ITAWY. *For them,* they are not in sync in these pics at all.
I just think he needs to Sit Down…he went out of his way to help win Casey an Oscar and was probably cutting it up with Harvey right up until the ish hit the fan.
Matt Damon needs to STFU. You enabling piece of hack.
Shut it Matt Damon.
Yes not all men are predators. But no one asked that question. They were talking about how to help change the system – and all he offered was there doesn’t need to be a change because there’s so many nice guys already.
I wish he was here to interrupt me and mansplain to me some more because I need more mansplaining about how the good guys who would never let this happen, let it happen for decades.
So he’s gonna do nothing? Cause his answer seems to indicate he thinks he’s been doing enough all this time. Thanks, Matt, that’s really gonna help us out
Yes. I was looking through his answer for actions and nope, nothing.
I used to like Matt Damon a lot back in the day. Now, I find everything he says so offensive and annoying. He just kisses a** to white Hollywood. It’s like I’m seeing the real him. That wholesome all-American schtick that he tries to portray is so old.
Me too, just up until a few years ago. Now he can’t seem to stop saying stupid stuff.
Him and Clooney are two of a kind, thats why they do all there movies together.
Can’t stand him.
What I find most emblematic about his statement is that Matt Damon may not consider sexual harassment/assault, abuse of power in the same way as we do. For us, it’s clear. There is no black or white. If you use your power over a woman to intimidate her into doing anything, no matter how “small” you’re abusing your power. I believe his view is that he believes most men with power aren’t serial psychopaths who are raping and harassing hundreds of women on the level of Harvey Weinstein. He gives no allowances for men like his best friend, who grabs a woman’s butt or breasts without her permission. To him, that’s not using your power to get what you want, that’s just men being men. He only sees the world as far as his white male privilege will let him.
To think I use to like him…. in recent years he’s become rather problematic. I think though we should have all been aware he was “boys will be boys” type of guy considering who his friends are. Nobody’s that close friends with Ben Affleck and not like him. Sure he might not be public about all his issues like Affleck is, but I have the suspicious now that Damon’s problem just as much of a predator as Affleck is.
I believe he’s a lot like Ben. It’s only his contrived public image that’s different. Birds of a feather and all that.
Why am I not shocked that Matt Damon was first out of the gate with #notallmen?
So basically, look, I know I knew about Weinstein and I know I turned a blind eye to him, and to my bestie Affleck who was doing the same thing on a smaller scale and to my bestie’s bro who was also sexually assaulting women, but actors, amiright?? The important thing to remember is that I haven’t been doing that, or at least no one has said anything yet. I’m sure all those guys are super sorry for what they did and I’m just sick about it, but let’s not just go around blaming EVERYONE, okay? Especially not me.
Ass.
Matt is an ass, just about sums it up.
I’m kind of surprised this post doesn’t even mention Matt’s direct involvement with Manchester by the Sea and Casey Affleck. Casey is one of Matt’s best friends. Matt was exec producer on the film, he hand-picked Casey for the lead role when Matt wasn’t able to do it, and he personally showed up on most of the Manchester by the Sea red carpets and clearly used his weight to guide/protect Casey through awards season. So there – that’s some direct knowledge. He wasn’t just turning a blind eye to Casey but determined to ignore/push aside what happened for Casey and the movie.
Exactly! Damon actually invested his and the director’s credibility to whitewash Casey Affleck of his sexual harassment/assault sins. He is full-on complicit.
There may be a lot of great men in the “business”, but you are not one of them Matt.
Ah yes, the man who knew nothing at all about Wankstain is now asking us to trust his judgement on the same topic he knew nothing about. Seems reasonable and legit.
Because daughters or something…
B**** please. I hate this man. Just looking at him makes me angry.
Stop talking Matt just stop talking, we see you.
It really seems like he trying divert our attention from looking more further in shady men in Hollywood. Which make me question what skeletons he has hidden in his closets, because no one ask or said that all men in power decisions are predators
Hey Matt, tell that to Effie Brown or to Casey Affleck’s accusers. On second thought, save it Matt.
#notallmen amirite? Coming from Damon, this stance is, unfortunately, not surprising.
He can shut alllll the way up. I used to be a fan. No longer. Never again.
Well Matt, you turned a blind eye to helping a sexual harasser win a Best Actor Oscar less than a year ago. Your comments about men who abuse power are invalid!
Ug, I am done with both him, Affleck and Clooney, I saw another interview they did (Damin and Clooney) together basically saying they knew about the Gwyneth harassment because Affleck told them. But they make NO mention of Rose McGowan and the other women he really, really hurt. It is like they are hiding behind the fact that Gwyneth was able, through privilege and power, to reject him and still be the main star and therefore that absolves them.
Clooney does mention that Harvey would brag about bedding very famous actresses and he did not believe him because “it would be to believe the very worst of these actresses” as if it reflected their character to sleep with Harvey not hIs, I am DONE.
All of them can fuck off.
Did he say that Affleck told him? I thought he used the term buddy. It could be either Affleck or Pitt. We know that Paltrow told Pitt about Weinstein.
Damon said Affleck told him about Gwyneth. They don’t mention Pitt at all. I sort of hate how people are caring more about actresses that are more famous than the ones who are not and were brutalized in much worse ways, but it is typical Hollywood, fame level being the most important, I swear if Harvey had only gone after non-famous people no one in Hollywood would care at all.
Wait didn’t Clooney say in his first statment that he only heard roomers and didn’t believe them. Now he saying a friend told him about Gwen, he can’t claim ignorance while saying he knew, George can’t seem to keep his stories straight.
Yeah, well, to be fair it’s very hard to keep your story straight when you’re full of sh-t.
So let me get this straight first Clooney says he only heard rumors and didn’t believe them, Matt said he didn’t know and then Ben said he didn’t know. Then we find out that Gwen told Ben and Rose called him out saying he know about it.
Now both Matt and Clooney are saying that they did know because Ben told him about Gwen (therefore roomers had to be true) and they both probably knew about Rose.
The lie and stories these guys tell to cover their own asses.
I’m so over Matt Damon and I used to love him. He’s so arrogant he can’t even see his own ignorance and privilege. He’s cancelled in my book.
The forest is getting lost for the trees. Matt Damon is NOT the problem. He’s actually a really nice guy and what Weinstein did isn’t what MATT did. This idea that every guy in Hollywood is now evil if they did a movie with Harvey is absurd. I’m glad times are changing, but stop dragging innocent people into the fold.
He is part of the problem and as for him being a nice guy yeah no he’s proving he’s not and no saying what Harvey did is what Matt did. We can still focus on Harvey by calling Matt out and others out at the same time.
I can see your general point, but in Matt’s case, you can simply look at what I mentioned above. Matt blatantly disregarded Casey’s sexual harassment charges and pursued him for the lead role in Manchester by the Sea, in addition to using his own industry prominence to help Casey get through awards season without having to address any of the harassment charges with media. As a white male with powerful white male allies, Casey was able to sidestep the fate of someone like Nate Parker, a black actor who was accused of rape and acquitted, but his Oscar campaign was completely derailed by media questions, and many say his movie career could be completely over. (Granted, it’s acknowledged that the level of accusations against Parker were of a fundamentally higher degree – i.e. rape vs. sexual harassment, but you can see the overall point…)
Matt Damon doesn’t use Twitter? I actually tried to find his account to tweet at him but then I saw an article about how he is afraid to get one ……. But anyway…..
The point, Mr. Matt Damon, is not that there are good men in Hollywood. There are. But what are good men going to do? That needs to be your point here.
First, admit that there is a widespread problem. Too many people are talking now. This is not an open industry secret anymore. This is public knowledge. So start with saying, Yes, there’s a problem. I get that this is the industry that you’ve loved and made your life for 20+ years, and it is hard for you to say how f–ked up sh-t is, but sh-t is f–ked up.
Second, take your stance as a good man, since that is what you feel your viewpoint is,and talk about what even good men did wrong. You dismissed rumors and ignored stories. You enabled with will full ignorance. You did not use YOUR voice, as a producer and director, to speak up for actresses and below the line workers.
Third, talk about what good men need to do. Eyes must be open. Refuse to work with the “bad men”. But also change the culture. It’s not just rapists that are a problem. It’s easy to say a rapists is a bad person. But the guy who grabs a server’s a-s at a bar, or who tells a total stranger she’s got nice tits is ALSO a bad guy. You as the good guy need to say, “Hey, don’t be an as-hole. That’s unwelcome behavior.” Boys WONT be boys. If a producer / director / exec has a shady rep, you as the white male costar or filmmaker need to refuse to work with him.
That is where it starts and that is something you can do with so little effort.
If you really want to be the good guy, don’t be the guy who just sits there and lets it happen.
If he had twitter, this is what should be tweeted to him: ” The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is that good people do nothing” Edmund Burke”
Nah, if he was on Twitter Rose McGowan would have told him to f- off the same time she told Affleck.
The long-awaited demise of the Clooney, Damon & Affleck Good ‘Ol Boy Hollywood Frat Bro Act is the one piece of collateral damage from this whole HW affair I can get behind.
Agree 1000000% now can everyone stop pretending they are Hollywood’s moral conscience (esp. Clooney) please, it was all such an act, they only care in so far as it harms their careers
Completly agree, they are so fake, and will do anything and keep quite if it serves there careers well and makes them more money at the box office.
May the Frat Bro Act die a quick and painful death….
My problem with him: too many instances of him being caught out there being an ass and then attempting to come back without pause in a transparent attempt to vigorously manicure his public image.
There was the hissy fit over the Bourne Legacy poster, and the comeback to that franchise that smacked of the kind of territorial peeing I’d assumed he was above; the Project Greenlight whitesplaining and talking over Effie Brown – who ironically had to preface her comment by saying she was coming from a peaceful point of benevolent criticism to stimulate awareness lest she get labelled Angry Black Woman TM; all while Damon is free to defensively and angrily dudesplain with zero… awareness; The Great Wall; his hand in the great Casey Affleck cloaking Oscar campaign; that shady vouching both he and Russel Crowe did for that alleged Italian “producer”/pimp, then his reaction to it being pointed out recently; his Weinstein response that used his wife and daughters as a social human shield a la Joss Whedon; the fact that he still feels the need to talk on this particular topic despite having struck out in the court of public opinion *because* it’s extremely clear (af) how he – and Ben – are old hands at PR manipulation to the point that they refuse to NOT weigh in on a subject until they feel they’re back in the public’s “good graces”; and finally: Ben Affleck – and way the play PR good cop/bad cop.
One issue is one thing, but all of those back to back? Hard pass.
That’s why he’s pretty much cancelled on my end. I honestly wish he’d just can it at this point: nobody’s buying it.
Yes he never seems to take the time to reflect after these intersects and take them as learning experience to do better.
He just comes back even more problematic then before with his boy next door image in full force talking about what an average guy he his.
I just watched/read the GMA interview. This just grosses me out. While you can certainly call out Ben Affleck on what he knew in all of this, I find it SO hypocritical that Damon sort of seems to be subtly trying to throw Affleck under the bus in the interview – as in, Damon himself didn’t do anything wrong, he just found out Goop indirectly from Ben Affleck, so what could poor ol’ innocent Matt do about it?
And even more ironic that while he’s throwing one Affleck under the bus, he’s still staying quiet about the other one. Mark my words, Damon and Clooney are going to get through this entire Suburbicon press tour without ever fielding a single question about Casey Affleck. MIND BLOWING! Pure hypocrisy – from Damon and Clooney and from the media too.
I call B’S at, he’s just finding out now” because he didn’t need Ben to tell him, Gwen did that herself in the NYT article.
As I said in an above comment both he and Clooney first statements claimed that they either didn’t know or only heard rumors. Their comment about Ben telling them about Gwen is proof that they in fact did know and that the rumors were true. Which contradicts their first narrative, the more they talk the deeper the hole they dig for themselves.
Matt is throwing Ben under the bus because he is not good for his PR right now and both Matt and Clooney will not address Casey because it would reflect badly on Matt and not good PR for them both.
@Rose – So true. Honestly, I know Ben Affleck has unavoidable issues here, and don’t get me wrong – he’s totally culpable – but at times I feel like he’s become the easy/default public whipping boy because much of his behavior has been public while people who have exactingly curated their squeaky clean public images – like Damon – are being allowed to skate by, while their narratives on this subject twist and turn daily. I hate hypocrisy.
Ben Affleck groped a woman on camera (Burton) and is accused of groping another somewhat recently (Golden Globes). He’s also accused of knowing about one assault (McGowan) and basically confirmed knowing about another (Paltrow). Matt Damon may be a lot of things but he has never been accused of groping a woman, and the information that he’s received about assaults has been thirdhand. This is totally different from Affleck, who actually dated someone who was assaulted and did some groping of his own. As for Casey, maybe Matt knows more about it than we do or chooses to believe Casey’s denials that any of it transpired. Who knows.
Ben Affleck deserves every ounce of public scorn that he gets. He needs to learn to keep his hands to himself.
He you ever noticed that Matt loves to deflect question in interviews from him to his other celebrities, to make himself seem more average/normal.
Matt has been ask a number of times how he and his family handle paparazzi and his answer is always Well I married a civilian, but Brad/Angilena do this and Ben/Jen do that.
Ben is just messy so of course Matt looks good in compression and Matt uses that to his advantage. To me it’s the celebrities that have to keep reminding you how squeaky clean their image is, are the ones that have something to hide.
I just watched it too.
Matt clearly says he knew what HW did to Gwenyth via Ben Affleck, but then sort of dismisses it because he said they “worked it out” and she continued working with him. As if that makes it all ok?
Matt’s original statement implied he knew nothing. Clearly that was not true.
Matt has also not said a peep about Casey Affleck, or his BFF Ben.
Clooney is still sticking by his original “I only heard rumors”, he doesn’t say he knew about Gwenyth.
Matt also just threw his so called friend Ben under the bus. Ben’s statement about this Harvey situation was all, shocked and upset, didn’t know anything! Matt just outed Ben by saying that Ben was how he found out about Harvey harassing Gwenyth.
This is what Matt’s always done because when you compare his public persona with Ben’s of course Matt looks like a saint. I used to be a fan of Matt’s but not after the last few years, he can’t hide his arrogance.
“I’ve been in the business for 20 years. I know a lot of great men in this business and men who don’t use their power in that way.”
That’s an implicit statement that he DID know about Weinstein, surely? If he’s saying, well yeah, some do, but I know others who don’t… then he’s saying he knew. And knows more, too. Or how could he distinguish between the two?
You can’t on the one hand claim you thought everything was fine because you had no clue this was going on, and on the other say things should be fine now because you know who was doing this and who wasn’t and everyone will go with the good guys now, no question. I mean, it’s not just implausible; it’s inherently contradictory.
It’s becoming so clear that everyone knew. Not the full scale, maybe, but certainly enough to have a damn good idea. I wish they’d all stop denying it. It just makes them look worse, and it’s grating everyone’s gears.
His lack of awareness of his complicity in a system that protects powerful men is what drives me nuts.
Well it seems to me that these men just used their ‘power ‘ to get theirs and who cares about those around them who they knew were being hurt. Such a responsible way to use one’s ‘power’.
Ben told Rose that he knew Harvey assaulted women and had told him to stop.
What are the odds Ben mentioned the assault on Gwyneth but not the rest of it to Matt?
Yeah, not much.
Also, Matt clearly just three Ben under the bus. He’s a pro and knew that an additional tidbit about what Ben knew would just make things worse for Ben’s upcoming movie PR. What’s going on behind the scenes there, I wonder?
Ben used Matt as part of the girlfriend rollout, being photographed outside Matt’s house. Matt avoids photos of his home and family. Wonder if he was ticked. Hmmm.
My god, not everything goes back to Ben’s new girlfriend.
No, that wasn’t my point. It was Ben’s use of Matt’s no-go zone in the rollout – not the identity or existence of the GF. I cannot imagine Matt would add to the pile on Ben if there wasn’t something that had pushed a button. Maybe it wasn’t that incident, but there seems to have been something.
Matt has a “no-go zone”? Um, what? Who are you that you think you know so much about this person? I’m pretty sure Damon knows how famous Ben is and how he gets followed around constantly, because he’s commented on it all publicly. That wasn’t the first time Ben was ever photographed leaving Matt’s home.
A, you are really hostile. Matt has talked about his privacy for his home and family.
Ben and L’s exit from the party appeared very much like a set-up TO ME – that’s my opinion for sure.
My point was about why would Matt call Ben out like he did – because he knew it would heap on the pile already on his head. Something happened, IMO, for him to do that.
My ponder is that it might be related to that event. As I said, maybe not. Just instinct here.
Chill.
Matt didn’t throw Ben under the bus today. He said that he knew about Paltrow via Ben. If anything, he makes himself look just as guilty as Ben for knowing all this time. Then he mitigated all of it saying that it had been handled. I have seen your essay-length posts in every Ben Affleck/Jen Garner thread and you literally try to drag every single thing back to his girlfriend and that situation, like you tried to do it again here. You’re clearly obsessed and I just have to laugh.
Some people are so desperate to talk trash about Garner and/or Shookus that they try to fabricate any possible connection to them on here. Sigh.
I think he did throw him under a fast moving bus and that was the beginning and end of my point.
@LTS – I think it just goes back to what @Rose said above. Matt’s known for obnoxious name-dropping in his interviews, whether it has a positive or negative connotation. Watch him enough, and you’ll see him constantly pull out the anecdotes about something “Bob” Deniro or Brad Pitt or Robin Williams or [fill in the name here] told him. He’s told borderline offensive stories about lots of his “friends”, including Pitt/Jolie and dealing with their level of fame, how you can avoid getting stalked by paparazzi if you actually want to (a dig at J Garner w/ kids, which I actually agree with, but still, just showing that he’s not above the subtle shade.) I don’t think it’s any different here. I think he’s just pulling out Ben’s name in an attempt to say, “It’s not me. I found out from someone else!”, especially since he’s got a movie to promote right now. And of course, it didn’t work anyway, because by admitting Ben told him years ago, he’s now contradicting his original statements about it. At this point, I think everyone is in self-preservation mode.
This is what happens when complicit people try to save their own assess. It only raises more questions about them. Best to own your part and then shut up, Matt.
He knows a lot of great men in Hollywood and mentions only 2! Hahahahahaha
I am surprised he didn’t end his interview saying #metoo
All his responses are nonesense. He clearly is either ignorant of or indifferent to the issues surrounding harassment. He is depicting this situation in a positive light that is unwarranted at this point. Like Emma Thompson said Weinstein was just tip of the iceberg. And no, this case doesn’t give hope to the single mom waitress who doesn’t have NYT and Ronan Farrow on her cases! Damon’s rainbow and sunshine vision, and “Not All Men” comfort just reeks of pretend alliance.
Truthfully I think he just doesn’t care it doesn’t affect him so it’s not his concern.
Matt has been problematic for last couple years and he always comes back unchanged. He never seems to take each incident as a learning a learning situation to do better. He has very much a privilege white men attitude and he doesn’t seem to want to change that.
Ben Affleck must be sh*tting bricks right now. After two full weeks of avoiding NYC pap strolls with his gf and buying a puppy and going to church and Buddhist rehab, his own best friend drags him right back into the muck. LMAO. I love it. Drown and die, you jacka$$.