MATT DAMON HAS recently been doing a promotional tour for his new movie Downsizing – but he’s been consistently making the headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Last week, in an interview with ABC News, Damon said there was:
a difference between patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviours need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated.
Minnie Driver read Damon’s comments and responded to The Guardian that men “simply cannot understand what abuse is like on a daily level”:
I honestly think that until we get on the same page, you can’t tell a woman about their abuse. A man cannot do that. No one can. It is so individual and so personal, it’s galling when a powerful man steps up and starts dictating the terms, whether he intends it or not.
There was widespread support for Driver’s stance – and a condemnation of Damon explaining to women what the spectrum of sexual violence looks like from his position.
Yesterday, Damon was asked once again about the sexual harassment and assault stories that have dominated Hollywood in recent months.
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 sh*tload 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.
If I have to sign a sexual-harassment thing, I don’t care, I’ll sign it. I would have signed it before. I don’t do that, and most of the people I know don’t do that.
The idea that the focus should shift away from the predators hasn’t gone down well at all
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There are sound reasons why everyone isn’t talking about the “good men” right now
Since last night, his comments have become a source of ridicule across social media
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It seems like he’s monumentally missed the point on this one
#NotAllMen hasn’t had much momentum in recent times, but Damon might be bringing it back
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Rose McGowan called his comments “dense”
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It’s been an… eventful press tour
