Matt Damon defends himself from criticism and ensures that he does not use homophobic insults
Matt Damon has started the month of August with a new controversy. Last weekend an interview with the actor was published in the Sunday Times in which he told an anecdote with his daughter that involved the word "f*ggot", a derogatory term to refer to the LGTBQ community whose equivalent in Spain would be "m *rich".
The controversy came because Damon seemed to admit that he was still using the word a few months ago: "I made a joke, a few months ago, and I was rebuked by my daughter. He got up from the table. I said 'come on, it's a joke! I mean it in the movie 'Stuck on You'!' She went to her room and wrote a really long and nice explanation about why that word is dangerous. I said 'I take the 'f*ggot' back!' I got it."
Faced with the barrage of criticism despite the fact that the anecdote had an ending with a moral, the actor has released a statement to explain that he does not use that word and that he positions himself as an ally of the LGTBQ collective:
"In a recent interview I remembered a discussion I had with my daughter in which I tried to contextualize for her the progress that has been made - and is far from over - since I grew up in Boston and, as a child, heard the word 'f*g' used on the street before I explained to her that the word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine as recent as 2003, she replied in disbelief that there could never have been a time when that word was used without thinking.
To my admiration and pride, she was extremely vocal about the level of pain that word can cause a person from the LGBTQ+ community no matter how culturally normalized they are. I'm not only I agreed with her but was also moved by her passion, values, and desire for social justice. I haven't called anyone 'f*ggot' in my personal life and this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening. I do not use derogatory nicknames of any kind. I have learned that eradicating prejudice requires an active movement toward justice rather than finding passive comfort in imagining myself as 'one of the good guys'. And given that open hostility against the LGBTQ+ community is still not uncommon, I understand that my statement would lead many to assume the worst. To be as clear as possible: I'm on the side of the LGBTQ+ community."
The GLAAD association has responded to this statement by recalling the importance that this word and any word with derogatory connotations against the LGBTQ population "have no space" in the media, in the workplace or anywhere.
your next release
Matt Damon will premiere in theaters on August 13 his new film, 'A Matter of Blood'. Directed by Tom McCarthy ('Spotlight'), it focuses on a father who travels to Marseille to try to prove the innocence of his daughter (Abigail Breslin), in prison accused of murder.
