Last month, Matt Damon didn’t just step into hot water with this comments regarding the #MeToo movement sweeping Hollywood, he bathed in it. In an interview for ABC‘s “Popcorn with Peter Travers,” the actor tried to mansplain the varying degrees of bad behavior, and kept sinking further each with each passing sentence.
“I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories and it’s totally necessary,” Damon had said. “I do believe there’s a spectrum of behavior. … You know, there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated.”
“All of that behavior needs to be confronted, but there is a continuum,” he added. “And on this end of the continuum where you have rape and child molestation or whatever, you know, that’s prison. Right? And that’s what needs to happen. OK? And then we can talk about rehabilitation and everything else. That’s criminal behavior, and it needs to be dealt with that way. The other stuff is just kind of shameful and gross.”
The cherry on top of his comments, was Damon explaining what he would do in the event he was falsely accused of sexual misconduct or worse.
“We would then go to mediation and organize a settlement,” he said. “I’d go, ‘I don’t want this out there. … it’s going to be overshadowing the opening of this movie. How much money do you want?’ The lawyers would get together, and they do this cost-benefit analysis, and they’d go, ‘Oh, this is what it’s worth.’ And I look at the number and go, ‘OK, I’ll pay it, but you can never talk about this again. You’re fucking lying about this, but never talk about this again.’ ”
Needless to say, It Did Not Go Over Well. Visiting NBC‘s “Today” this morning, Damon took a different track, apologized, and rightfully suggested that perhaps it’s time he stop talking.
“Boy, I really wish I’d listened a lot more before I weighed in on this,” he stated. “I think, ultimately, what it is for me is I don’t want to further anybody’s pain with anything that I do or say. So for that, I’m really sorry. This whole Time’s Up — a lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they’re doing and want to be a part of that change and go along for that ride.”
“I should get in the backseat and close my mouth for a while,” he added.
That might be the smartest thing he’s said yet about all of this.
