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Matt Damon thinks men who do the right thing are going unnoticed as the list of allegations against Hollywood heavyweights like Harvey Weinstein keeps growing.
Key points:
- Damon says he will make decisions about who he works with on "case-by-case basis"
- He has worked on number of films with Weinstein's company Miramax
- He thinks most men he has worked with won't be affected by allegations
"We're in this watershed moment, and it's great, but I think one thing that's not being talked about is there are a whole s*** load of guys — the preponderance of men I've worked with — who don't do this kind of thing and whose lives aren't going to be affected," Damon told Business Insider.
"If I have to sign a sexual-harassment thing, I don't care, I'll sign it," he said.
"I would have signed it before. I don't do that, and most of the people I know don't do that."
Damon also said he would make decisions about working with someone who has been accused of sexual misconduct on a "case-by-case basis".
'They shouldn't be conflated'
Damon came under fire last week for comments made during an interview with America's ABC News.
"You know, there's a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviours need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn't be conflated, right?" Damon said.
Alyssa Milano, who helped popularise the #MeToo movement, issued a public response to Damon's comment on Twitter and compared sexual misconduct to cancer.
"Some are more treatable than others. But it's still cancer," Milano wrote.
"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 normalised, accepted — even welcomed — misogyny," Milano wrote.
"We are not outraged because someone grabbed our asses 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."
Damon and Miramax
Weinstein's company, Miramax, released a number films which helped propel Damon into stardom, including Good Will Hunting.
Damon admitted he was aware of at least one allegation against Weinstein when he was filming The Talented Mr Ripley with Miramax.
He told ABC News in the US that Ben Affleck mentioned Gwyneth Paltrow's claim she had to refuse Weinstein's unwanted advances.
Damon previously denied claims he tried to stop a news story 13 years ago about Weinstein's alleged sexual harassment.
Reporter Sharon Waxman, who then worked for The New York Times, said she looked into rumours in 2004 that an employee of Weinstein's in Italy was procuring women for him, and received calls from both Damon and Russell Crowe vouching for the employee.
Weinstein, who is currently under investigation for sexual assault in four cities, has denied all allegations of non-consensual sex.
Twitter reacts
Damon's comments have also inspired number of Twitter parodies.
Topics: arts-and-entertainment, community-and-society, film-movies, social-media, united-states
First posted