"Until we get on the same page, you can't tell a woman about their abuse."
The #MeToo campaign has largely been driven by and commented on by women. But now Matt Damon has spoken out about it—and women aren’t too thrilled by what he had to say.
In an interview with ABC News’ Popcorn with Peter Travers, on Thursday, Matt talked about the sexual assault allegations against former Miramax head Harvey Weinstein (with whom he worked on several movies over the course of his career, including Good Will Hunting, The Talented Mr. Ripley, and most recently, Suburbicon). Matt said that he “wouldn’t want [Harvey] married to anyone close to me. But that was the extent of what we knew, you know?”
But it’s what he said about the #MeToo movement that has pissed more than a few people off. In the interview, Matt said that there’s a “spectrum of behavior” when it comes to sexual harassment and assault. “There’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation,” he said. “Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated.” He also called out former senator Al Franken, who resigned from his seat after he was faced with several allegations of groping. “I personally would have preferred if they had an Ethics Committee investigation, you know what I mean?” he said. “It’s like at what point—you know, we’re so energized to kind of get retribution, I think.”
He also kinda-sorta defended comedian Louis C.K., who admitted to masturbating in front of women, calling his behavior “shameful and gross,” before adding, “I don’t imagine he’s going to do those things again. You know what I mean? I imagine the price that he’s paid at this point is so beyond anything that he—I just think that we have to kind of start delineating between what these behaviors are.” Then, he added, “None of us came here perfect.”
Matt’s ex Minnie Driver (and his Good Will Hunting co-star) quickly spoke out about his comments, tweeting, “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 later told The Guardian: “I’ve realized that most men, good men, the men that I love, there is a cut-off. They 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. ... 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.”
Alyssa Milano also clapped back on Twitter, writing, “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 normalized, accepted—even welcomed—misogyny.” She later added, “"We are not outraged because someone grabbed our a---s in a picture. We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal. We are outraged because we have been gaslighted. We are outraged because we were silenced for so long.
Matt hasn’t yet publicly responded to the controversy. Harvey Weinstein has denied all allegations of non-consensual sexual contact.