Entertainment

Matt Damon criticised over further comments on sexual abuse in Hollywood

The Hollywood star has made further comments following his controversial remarks last week.
The Hollywood star has made further comments following his controversial remarks last week. The Hollywood star has made further comments following his controversial remarks last week.

Matt Damon has been criticised for saying men who are not sexual predators are not being talked about enough in the wake of the Hollywood sexual abuse scandal.

The actor last week came under fire for saying that the number of those who are being accused of sexual misconduct are “like 1% of the guys” in the film industry, and that there is “spectrum of behaviour” in assault cases.

And his new comments, in which he said that there is a lack of reporting on men who “don’t do this kind of thing”, have also been condemned.

Damon told Business Insider: “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 shit-load 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.”

The actor, who was promoting his new film Downsizing, added: “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.”

A number of celebrities took to Twitter to criticise his remarks, including Rose McGowan, who is one of the many women to have made sexual misconduct allegations against film producer Harvey Weinstein.

McGowan wrote: “Matt Damon is dense AF.”

Singer and actress Cher said: “Matt Damon proving, once again, that nothing is more fragile than masculinity.”

She added: “BTW, one should not need or require applause for being a decent human being and not harassing or assaulting others, Matt Damon.”

Will and Grace star Debra Messing wrote: “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.”

In an interview with ABC News last week, Damon said that not all men in the industry should be painted with the same brush.

“I would like to point out that, even though it feels like there’s this avalanche of men, how many people in the movie business have taken a tumble now?” he told Popcorn With Peter Travers.

“Think of how many men are in the movie business… this is like 1% of the guys, It’s not everybody, it just feels like it.”

Damon had also referred to a “spectrum of behaviour” in sexual abuse, and that “there’s a difference between, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation.”

British actress Minnie Driver, who once dated Damon, her Good Will Hunting co-star, wrote on Twitter: “God, seriously?”

“Gosh it’s so interesting (profoundly unsurprising) how men with all these opinions about women’s differentiation between sexual misconduct, assault and rape reveal themselves to be utterly tone deaf and as a result, systemically part of the problem,” she wrote.

Charmed actress Alyssa Milano, who kick-started the “Me Too” social media campaign to highlight the widespread nature of sexual abuse, also responded to Damon’s comments.

She tweeted: “We are in a culture of outrage because the magnitude of rage is, in fact, overtly outrageous. And it is righteous.

“I have been a victim of each component of the sexual assault spectrum of which you speak. They all hurt. And they are all connected to a patriarchy intertwined with normalised, accepted – even welcomed – misogyny.

“We are not outraged because someone grabbed our asses in a picture. We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal … We are outraged because we were silenced for so long.”