Yesterday, I wrote about Matt Damon’s daughter teaching him about how water is wet, sorry, I mean, how the f-slur for a homosexual is bad. Today, I’m here to clarify that according to Matt Damon, he’s never used the f-slur… even if he’s the one who told us that he used the f-slur.
Matt Damon after exposing Matt Damon and then saying that Matt Damon never said what Matt Damon says Matt Damon said: pic.twitter.com/dsOSFhlx3U
— Ray Lewis (@RayLewis1997) August 2, 2021
Let me explain.
Here’s a recap of what Matt Damon originally said he said:
“The word that my daughter calls the ‘f-slur for a homosexual’ was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application. I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter. She left the table.
I said, ‘Come on, that’s a joke! I say it in the movie ‘Stuck on You!’ She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, ‘I retire the f-slur!’ I understood.”
Now, to me, it sounded like he was initially attempting to create this teachable moment about a man who, once upon a time, back in the dark ages of months ago, realized that slurs are slurs thanks to his daughter. And, to me, it’s exhausting when folks tell you these things, unprompted, because it sounds like an attempt to look good in the eyes of the marginalized.
You really can keep that information to yourself instead of trying to create this “I’ve come so far” narrative. Especially because now his narrative has shifted once again.
To be honest, I was privately insulting Matt Damon until a few months ago, too, so…
— George Takei (@GeorgeTakei) August 2, 2021
Everybody:
The national news media:
The trades:
TMZ:
Matt Damon: Y’know I said f*gg*t until like last Tuesday?— Chase Mitchell (@ChaseMit) August 2, 2021
Matt Damon today: pic.twitter.com/MOzf8an3tl
— jaun (@Treeofl1fe) August 2, 2021
Like.
I really don’t need to know that, in 2021, there are people who still don’t get why an extremely common gay slur in use for more than a century is bad. I don’t need to know that their children are having to teach them something that should be common knowledge at this point. It’s not like this slur is new territory, for decades its primary use was to hurt the queer community.
And really, the most frustrating part is the fact that the queer community is expected to accept what Matt Damon’s saying here. We’re supposed to praise him for altering his mindset, focus the narrative on his feelings and his supposed growth instead of the horrific realization that in 2021 people are still using gay slurs at the dinner table in an attempt to tell a joke.
And even worse, we’re supposed to congratulate them for stopping.
While you were going through this moment of self-discovery, Mr. Damon, I was having to come to terms with the fact that people like you still have a lot of learning to do in regards to not calling me a slur that’s older than my 30+ self. By you revealing this bit of information about yourself, you now have folks telling the queer community that they shouldn’t be so hard on you because at least you made an attempt.
Thanks for that, I say sarcastically.
Worst take I’ve seen on Matt Damon is that we shouldn’t use “holier than thou judgement of people’s past using today’s context and worldview”. My apologies. People from a few months ago should not be judged by today’s standards. They just didn’t know any better back in June.
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) August 2, 2021
But in the end, I guess none of that matters, because according to a statement from Variety, Matt Damon is now saying that he’s never said the f-slur at all!
Even if, in the previous interview he did, he said that he told his daughter that he’s retiring the f-slur.
He stopped using it but never used it. Interesting.
— John Royce (@realjohnroyce) August 2, 2021
Is Matt Damon calling his own daughter a liar?
— Dale Bennett (@DaleBennett91) August 2, 2021
Ah, it’s a classic he-said-he-said. Except both “he”s are Matt Damon 🤣
Either he changed his story after he got in trouble or……. Yeah, he changed his story after he got in trouble. Class act.
— Jon Laird (@JonLaird87) August 2, 2021
So um.
Here’s what Matt Damon has to say about what Matt Damon said—or rather, didn’t say, according to Matt Damon.
“During a recent interview, I recalled a discussion I had with my daughter where I attempted to contextualize for her the progress that has been made – though by no means completed – since I was growing up in Boston and, as a child, heard the word ‘f*g’ used on the street before I knew what it even referred to. I explained that that word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine as recently as 2003; she in turn expressed incredulity that there could ever have been a time where that word was used unthinkingly. To my admiration and pride, she was extremely articulate about the extent to which that word would have been painful to someone in the LGBTQ+ community regardless of how culturally normalized it was. I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice.
I have never called anyone ‘f****t’ in my personal life and this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening. I do not use slurs of any kind. I have learned that eradicating prejudice requires active movement toward justice rather than finding passive comfort in imagining myself ‘one of the good guys’. And given that open hostility against the LGBTQ+ community is still not uncommon, I understand why my statement led many to assume the worst. To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community.”
I mean, how else am I supposed to react to a man who volunteered information about using homophobic language suddenly changing his tune like this? This reeks of “my attempt at a charming moment of growth failed, I’m trending for all the wrong reasons, this needs to be cleaned up.” But instead of holding himself accountable, he’s decided to try and Thanos snap the entire thing away by claiming he’s never used the word. “The f-slur for a homosexual, lol I don’t know her,” says Matt Damon.
But, and I cannot stress this enough, HE was the one who TOLD US that he USED THIS WORD MONTHS AGO until his daughter educated him about it!
Now more than ever it feels like he brought up this f-slur anecdote to try and get some “you’re a good ally” points because … I dunno why, actually, but this response here is sticking with me.
Because we’re the center of our worlds and certain that everyone not only thinks like us but seeks our validation for the way they think and act
— Plush Freb! (@anplushie) August 2, 2021
And now that everyone’s calling him out, Matt Damon has decided to go ahead and say that he’s never used, well, any slurs of any kind. Because we all know slurs have a way of spreading, so if you’re comfortable with nonchalantly telling us about how you used to say one, we’re gonna wonder about the others.
If Matt Damon has been using homophobic slurs all this time, you know he’s been using racist and sexist ones too.
— Candice Marie Benbow (@CandiceBenbow) August 2, 2021
This adds a whole new layer of why I’m exhausted of these manufactured attempts at teachable moments. It’s baffling to me that someone would willingly call themselves out for using gay slurs then try and say we’re the ones who misconstrued the story he willingly told us. No one asked Matt Damon for this storytime moment with his daughter, but it’s out there now.
Or not, I guess, because according to him he’s never used a gay slur.
Even if he says that he said it months ago, much to his daughter’s dismay, and even tried to defend it because he said it in one of his movies.
And even if he said it twice in his response to Variety about not saying it when f-slur was right there for him to use.
I just.
Matt Damon.
The drafts folder.
Please.
Use it.
(Image: Theo Wargo/Getty Images)
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