Actor Matt Damon during ABC News’ Popcorn With Peter Travers suggested that some types of sexual harassment and abuse aren’t as bad as others. Now he’s getting an earful from some actresses explaining why what he said was so insulting.
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Actresses Alyssa Milano and Minnie Driver are not happy with Matt Damon’s controversial new interview in which he asserted that the recent wave of sexual misconduct allegations don’t all carry the same weight.
By Mike Miller
Actor Matt Damon during ABC News’ Popcorn With Peter Travers suggested that some types of sexual harassment and abuse aren’t as bad as others. Now he’s getting an earful from some actresses explaining why what he said was so insulting.
Actress Alyssa Milano, who roused thousands of women to speak out about their experiences of sexual harassment and assault, began her series of tweets by “Dear Matt Damon, It’s the micro that makes the macro.”
She continued, “We are in a ‘culture of outrage’ because the magnitude of rage is, in fact, overtly outrageous. And it is righteous,” 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 normalized, accepted–even welcomed– misogyny,” Milano added.
Actress Minnie Driver also took to twitter and noted, “God God, SERIOUSLY?”, along with a link to the article. “There are so many men I love who do NOT frame the differentiation between sexual misconduct, assault and rape as an excuse or worse – our problem,” she continued.
Damon garnered controversy about comments he made in a preview clip of an upcoming edition of ABC’s Popcorn with Peter Travers. In the clip, Damon says, “I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories and it’s totally necessary.”
Damon added, “I do believe there’s a spectrum of behaviour … There’s a difference between 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.”
Driver and Damon previously starred together in 1997’s Good Will Hunting and dated for a short time afterward. Their relationship ended awkwardly in 1998, when Damon denied he had a girlfriend while appearing on The Oprah Winfrey Show.
Last year, Minnie Driver opened up about her own experience with sexual assault as a teen. “When I was [17], I was on vacation in Greece, and this guy, kinda elbow-grabbed me, and said ‘You’re going to dance with me’,” she said on Sirius XM’s StandUP! with Pete Dominick. “I said ‘no’ and I pulled my arm away from him, and he grabbed me by the back of my hair. I tried to kick him, and then he punched me.”
In his interview with Peter Travers, Damon went on to talk positively about Louis C.K., who expressed remorse after multiple women came forward to accuse him of sexual misconduct.
“That’s the sign of somebody who — well, we can work with that,” Damon, a father of four daughters, said of Louis C.K.. “Like, when I am raising my kids, this constant personal responsibility is as important as anything else they learn before they go off in the world. 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,” Damon added. “You know what I mean? I imagine the price that he’s paid at this point is so beyond anything.”
Damon also said he doesn’t believe that Al Franken, who has been accused of sexual harassment by multiple women, belongs “in the same category” as Harvey Weinstein, who has been accused of sexual assault by multiple women.
Damon, who also spoke about the allegations against Kevin Spacey, was met with widespread criticism on social media after the clip aired.
– Courtesy: Entertainment Weekly
