Matt Damon, Shut Your Butt Mouth

By Madeleine Davies | December 14, 2017 | 10:50pm

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Oh, look! Matt Damon is talking again!

Sitting down with ABC News’s Peter Travers to discuss his new film Downsizing, Damon was again asked about his former collaborator Harvey Weinstein and the subsequent onslaught of abuse victims coming forward to tell their stories about powerful men in the entertainment industry. He’s been asked about this before—probably to an exhausting degree—so you’d think he’d have something sharp and thoughtful prepared:

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Peter Travers: We live now in a different age, in a political age. There’s a lot of dissidence that goes on in the world that could affect you as an actor. We’re also in the age of people charged with sexual misconduct. This is everywhere. How do you react to that? Especially you, as the father of four girls.

Matt Damon: I think we’re in this watershed moment. I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories, and it’s totally necessary…

Good, good. Keep it brief and don’t elaborate on an issue that you don’t seem particularly educated on, even if you are The Father of Daughters. Let’s move onto discussing Downsi—

Damon: …I do believe that there’s a spectrum of behavior, right?

Goddammit.

And we’re going to have to figure—you know, there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?

Breaking news! Matt Damon, Oscar winner, has cracked the code, finally pointing out that there’s a difference between patting someone on the butt or raping them! And that we shouldn’t conflate those behaviors! Why, that’s the mistake we’ve been making all along—conflating butt-grabbing and child molestation. So glad Matt Damon the Father of Daughters is here to set it straight.

Thankfully he continues:

You know, we see somebody like Al Franken, right? I personally would have preferred if they had an Ethics Committee investigation, you know what I mean? It’s like at what point—you know, we’re so energized to kind of get retribution, I think.

And we live in this culture of outrage and injury, and, you know, that we’re going to have to correct enough to kind of go, “Wait a minute. None of us came here perfect.” You know what I mean? …The Louis C.K. thing, I don’t know all the details. 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.

A word of advice to Damon: Anytime you have to preface a sentence about something as serious as a sexual assault allegation with “I don’t know all the details,” instead of talking, just shut your butt mouth! Is a black, female film producer attempting to explain the importance of diversity in Hollywood to you? Shut your butt mouth! Have some questions about the Louis CK accusations? Either do some research or shut your butt mouth! Concerned about “retribution”? Maybe consider that Al Franken admitted he was guilty and voluntarily resigned from office, not requiring an Ethics Committee investigation, and shut! your! butt! mouth!

But you didn’t get where you are by following my advice:

I mean, look, as I said, all of that behavior needs to be confronted, but there is a continuum. And on this end of the continuum where you have rape and child molestation or whatever, you know, that’s prison. Right? And that’s what needs to happen. OK? And then we can talk about rehabilitation and everything else. That’s criminal behavior, and it needs to be dealt with that way. The other stuff is just kind of shameful and gross, and I just think … I don’t know Louis C.K.. I’ve never met him. I’m a fan of his, but 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.

Please. Just…shut your butt mouth.