After thoroughly sabotaging his public image by his response to the Weinstein allegations and his criticizing certain aspects of the #MeToo movement, Matt Damon is now promising to take a #Backseat and keep his mouth closed for a while.
In an appearance on “Today,” Damon said that he spoke out of turn regarding #MeToo and now just wants to listen.
“I really wish I’d listened a lot more before I weighed in on this,” Damon said on Tuesday. “I don’t want to further anybody’s pain with anything that I do or say. So for that I am really sorry.”
Being a longtime friend of movie mogul Harvey Weinstein, Damon took a serious hit to his credibility after The New York Times alleged the famed producer preyed on industry actresses for years. Though Damon denied having knowledge of Weinstein’s crimes, he did admit to knowing tacitly of Weinstein’s alleged harassment of actress Gwyneth Paltrow.
In December of last year, Damon endured the ire of feminists when he called Al Franken allegedly groping a woman a “terrible joke” and that he might be willing to “work with” comedian Louis C.K. following revelations that he masturbated in front of women.
“The Louis C.K. thing, I don’t know all the details,” said Damon. “I don’t do deep dives on this, but I did see his statement, which kind of, which [was] arresting to me. When he came out and said, ‘I did this. I did these things. These women are all telling the truth.’ And I just remember thinking, ‘Well, that’s the sign of somebody who — well, we can work with that’ … Like, when I’m raising my kids, this constant personal responsibility is as important as anything else they learn before they go off in the world.”
Damon also spoke of “a spectrum of behavior” regarding sexual harassment, citing the “difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation.”
The backlash came swiftly against Damon. Feminists excoriated him on social media and former co-stars publicly denounced him. Just last month, a petition was launched demanding Damon’s cameo in the upcoming reboot of “Ocean’s 8” be removed from the film. It now has close to 28,000 signatures.
Needless to say, Damon got the message. Now, he promises to keep quiet.
“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 want to go along for the ride, but I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while,” he said on “Today.”