Matt Damon shared his insights on cancel culture while appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience this week.
The 55-year-old actor was a guest on Friday’s episode to promote his new Netflix crime-thriller The Rip alongside co-star Ben Affleck.
While discussing the movie, which follows Miami cops who seize millions of dollars, Affleck declared he doesn’t subscribe to the binary of ‘right and wrong.’
It prompted host Joe Rogan to compare the statement to cancel culture, describing the phenomenon as ‘this idea that one thing you said or one thing you did… now we’re going to exaggerate that to the fullest extent and cast you out of civilization for life.’
Damon chimed in, ‘…In perpetuity,’ before adding, ‘Because I bet some of those people [who have been cancelled] would have preferred to go to jail for 18 months or whatever, and then come out and say, “I paid my debt. Like, we’re done. Like, can we be done?”‘
He mused, ‘The thing about getting kind of excoriated publicly like that is it just never ends. It just will follow you to the grave.’
Matt Damon shared his insights on cancel culture while appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience this week
Longtime collaborators and friends Damon and Affleck have spent the week doing rounds of press.
On Tuesday morning the pair stopped by the Today show, where they told journalist Craig Melvin what their ‘least favorite’ things about each other are.
‘Um, [he’s] not great at cleaning up around the house,’ Affleck said about Damon, to which his friend objected, ‘Hey! [That was] when I was younger.’
The Air director then quipped, ‘Well, that’s all I have to go by,’ before joking, ‘I mean, we could ask your wife and see if it’s gotten better.’
Damon later named Affleck’s lateness as the thing that bugs him most.
‘We got here this morning and Ben was three minutes early. He got here before me and that’s the first time in 45 years he has not been late,’ he teased.
The banter continued as Affleck hit back: ‘Oh my god, that’s a complete myth. I work hard. I’m doing other stuff.’
He also joked that his acting counterpart lives ‘the life of luxury’ as he went on, ‘You come out of the trailer and everything’s done magically. How do you think it gets that way? But it’s fine.’
The 55-year-old actor said, ‘I bet some of those people [who have been cancelled] would have preferred to go to jail for 18 months’ rather than be cancelled in ‘perpetuity’; pictured on January 13
Damon and Ben Affleck star in the new Netflix thriller the Rip, which follows Miami cops who seize millions of dollars
Damon’s cancel culture comments come several years after he received backlash for speaking about the Me Too movement — which saw women in entertainment speak out against sexual harassment.
While promoting his movie Downsizing in 2017, the actor said that the good guys in Hollywood weren’t getting enough credit.
He also said that there’s a difference between a harasser who pats someone on the butt and a child molester.
Damon’s ex-girlfriend Minnie Driver and Alyssa Milano were among the actresses who called him out for his comments.
‘I really wish that I’d listened a lot more before I weighed in on this,’ he said on the Today show seven years ago when asked about the criticism.
He added, ‘A lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they’re doing and want to be a part of that change and want to go along for the ride, but I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while.’
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