Matt Damon on Gay Actors the Closet: “People Shouldn’t Know Anythg About Your Sexualy” – The Hollywood Reporter

Contents:

• MATT DAMON TALKS BEN AFFLECK GAY MORS, SEXUALY -- AND REVEALS THE SECRET BEHD HIS PONYTAIL
• AFTER UPROAR, MATT DAMON TRI TO CLARIFY COMMENTS ON ANTI-GAY SLUR
• I'M GAY. I APPLD MATT DAMON FOR BEG A BETTER PERSON | OPN
• ALL THE EVINCE MATT DAMON'S CHARACTER IN THE DEPARTED IS SECRETLY GAY
• MATT DAMON SUGGTS GAY ACTORS SHOULD STAY THE CLOSET

MATT DAMON TALKS BEN AFFLECK GAY MORS, SEXUALY -- AND REVEALS THE SECRET BEHD HIS PONYTAIL

Matt Damon has at last spoken out about old mors that he and his actor pal Ben Affleck have had a gay relatnship.The star of the "Bourne" movi was the foc of speculatn early his reer, the "Good Will Huntg" days, that he and Affleck had a romantic relatnship, but they seem to have died down recent years.But a new terview wh Playboy magaze, Damon -- who has been married to Luciana Barroso for seven years -- speaks to those mors, addrsg why he never dignified them wh a nial:“I never nied those mors bee I was offend and didn’t want to offend my iends who were gay,” the actor told Playboy, “as if beg gay were some kd of f--kg disease.

AFTER UPROAR, MATT DAMON TRI TO CLARIFY COMMENTS ON ANTI-GAY SLUR

Like wh Elton John.”But unfortunately, Damon not, Liberace's time was not one which was nsired acceptable for stars to be openly gay."The two men were eply love and a real relatnship—a marriage—long before there was gay marriage.

Matt Damon found himself more hot water this weekend when his take on mors that he and Ben Affleck were gay turned to a discsn of gay actors , about that ponytail he was sportg over the summer: It wasn’t real. “When Ben and I first me on the scene, there were mors that we were gay bee was two guys who wrote a script together, ” he said.

”That revelatn was ma while Damon, who has four kids wh wife Luciana Barroso, said he believ openly gay actors have a more difficult time Hollywood. “At the time [of the Affleck mors], I remember thkg and sayg, Rupert Everett was openly gay and this guy — more handsome than anybody, a classilly traed actor — ’s tough to make the argument that he didn’t take a h for beg out.

I'M GAY. I APPLD MATT DAMON FOR BEG A BETTER PERSON | OPN

”Though he believ attus are changg, he champns same-sex marriage and he played Liberace’s gay lover HBO’s 2013 film “Behd the Canlabra, ” the actor took some heat for his next quote, which several outlets terpreted as him sayg that gay actors should not e out. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anythg about your sexualy bee that’s one of the mysteri that you should be able to play. The gay remarks me soon after he was cricized for “Damonsplag” diversy an episo of HBO’s “Project Greenlight.

Movi|After Uproar, Matt Damon Tri to Clarify Comments on Anti-Gay Slur ADVERTISEMENTThe actor was recently quoted as sayg that he had cid to “retire” the word his dghter lls the “f-slur” after she objected to a joke he Wargo/Getty ImagFacg a backlash after he was quoted sayg he had recently cid to “retire” a homophobic slur, the actor Matt Damon said a statement on Monday that “I do not e slurs of any kd. Damon reunted a nversatn wh his dghter durg which he “ma a joke” that moved her to wre him an say on the historil harm of what she lls “the ‘f-slur for a homosexual.

“The word that my dghter lls the ‘f-slur for a homosexual’ was monly ed when I was a kid, wh a different applitn, ” Mr. 2015, he told The Guardian that actg, was key that “people shouldn’t know anythg about your sexualy bee that’s one of the mysteri that you should be able to play, ” addg that he imaged “ mt be really hard” for gay actors to be public about their sexualy. "That was my recurrg thought as I saw the unfoldg furor over Matt Damon's recent terview wh the Tim which the actor admted he'd only recently stopped g a slur to refer to gay people.

ALL THE EVINCE MATT DAMON'S CHARACTER IN THE DEPARTED IS SECRETLY GAY

"The word that my dghter lls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was monly ed when I was a kid, wh a different applitn, " the actor said, explag that he recently ma a joke g the slur. The tweets were fast and fur: "If Matt Damon's g homophobic slurs at the dner table 2021, you n't tell me he's not g racist slurs too.

As a person who was equently tnted for beg gay as a kid growg up Appalachia, who was himself lled the "f-slur" too many tim to unt, you might be surprised to learn that I dissent. Instead of admirg the is grace of changg one's md and givg up hurtful language, the social jtice mob dragged Damon over the proverbial als, sperate to e this as evince of his Damon is not homophobic.

I remember sperately tryg to expla to my straight male iends—who had been my iends for years, who had stood by me through thick and th, and had even fend me om homophobia—why the word bothered me so much.

MATT DAMON SUGGTS GAY ACTORS SHOULD STAY THE CLOSET

Like Matt Damon, they weren't homophobic, eher. And if Damon had doubled down on the homophobic slur after his dghter cricized him, if he had gotten fensive and relcrant, there would be ample room for that is not what happened. If we on the Left, cludg those of the gay muny, are ser about makg social progrs and broang acceptance and cln for LGBT people, Matt Damon should be ld, not lambasted.

"If Matt Damon’s g homophobic slurs at the dner table 2021, you n’t tell me he’s not g racist slurs too.