I think the knives were probably always going to be out for Matt Damon and Ben Affleck specifically. Their careers were formed, nurtured and forever altered because of Harvey Weinstein. Weinstein packaged them and sold them and made sure that they won their screenplay Oscar. They worked with Weinstein again and again over the years. So, of course Matt and Ben would always be “expected” to come out and say something. But after Sharon Waxman published her media-criticism piece about the New York Times killing another exposé in 2004, the knives were out for Matt even more. At the time, Waxman was writing about Fabrizio Lombardo, someone employed by Weinstein in an official capacity, but someone whose main job seemed to be “procurer” and “pimp.” Waxman wrote, “After intense pressure from Weinstein, which included having Matt Damon and Russell Crowe call me directly to vouch for Lombardo and unknown discussions well above my head at the Times, the story was gutted.” Weinstein had Matt Damon provide a character reference for a man who was likely procuring women for Harvey’s pleasure.
Everyone was waiting for Matt to say something. And finally, he has. Much like George Clooney’s conversation with the Daily Beast, Matt sat down with a friendly outlet (Deadline) and even allowed follow-up questions. You can read the full piece here. Some highlights:
His memory of the phone call he made to Waxman in 2004: “My recollection was that it was about a one minute phone call. Harvey had called me and said, they’re writing a story about Fabrizio, who I knew from The Talented Mr. Ripley. He has organized our premiere in Italy and so I knew him in a professional capacity and I’d had dinner at his house. Harvey said, Sharon Waxman is writing a story about Fabrizio and it’s really negative. Can you just call and tell her what your experience with Fabrizio was. So I did, and that’s what I said to her. It didn’t even make the piece that she wrote. As I recall, her piece just said that Russell and I had called and relayed our experience with Fabrizio. That was the extent of it and so I was very surprised to see it come back. I was never conscripted to do anything. We vouch for each other, all the time, and it didn’t even make her article. Whether it didn’t jibe with her storyline…it was an incomplete rendering of someone that I was giving but I had perfectly professional experiences with Fabrizio and I didn’t mind telling her that…I’m sure I mentioned to her that I didn’t know anything about the rest of her piece, because I didn’t. And I still don’t know anything about that and Fabrizio. My experience with him was all above board and that’s what I told her.
Whether he was asked, in 2004, to provide a character reference for Harvey: “No, I just remember it being a negative piece, a hit job on Fabrizio, was what Harvey was saying. Basically, that he had no professional experience. Harvey said, you worked with him. Can you tell her that he was a professional and you had a good experience, and that was it. I didn’t mind doing it, because that was all true.
On the criticism he’s received from people like Jessica Chastain: “Look, even before I was famous, I didn’t abide this kind of behavior. But now, as the father of four daughters, this is the kind of sexual predation that keeps me up at night. This is the great fear for all of us… We know this stuff goes on in the world. I did five or six movies with Harvey. I never saw this. I think a lot of actors have come out and said, everybody’s saying we all knew. That’s not true. This type of predation happens behind closed doors, and out of public view. If there was ever an event that I was at and Harvey was doing this kind of thing and I didn’t see it, then I am so deeply sorry, because I would have stopped it. And I will peel my eyes back now, further than I ever have, to look for this type of behavior. Because we know that it happens. I feel horrible for these women and it’s wonderful they have this incredible courage and are standing up now.
The change that’s happening: “We can all feel this change that’s happening, which is necessary and overdue. Men are a huge part of that change, and we have to be vigilant and we have to help protect and call this stuff out because we have our sisters and our daughters and our mothers. This kind of stuff can’t happen. This morning, I just feel absolutely sick to my stomach.
Matt says he’s not the story: “This would have been a difficult past couple of days even if my name hadn’t been dragged into it. I am not the story here. The story is these women and what happened to them. So if I’m experiencing this discomfort, it hardly bears mention. There are some real victims here and they are being incredibly brave. Hopefully, them going through this experience right now will help them heal. They are who we all should be thinking about.
He would never try to kill that kind of story: “For the record, I would never, ever, ever try to kill a story like that. I just wouldn’t do that. It’s not something I would do, for anybody.
CB and I were talking about whether Matt Damon comes across as someone who “performs” his wokeness, and I think he does (CB thinks the same). I rolled my eyes a few times at the talk of his fears as a father and “we have our sisters and our daughters and our mothers.” Yeah, but… what about the women who aren’t related to you, dude? What about your female coworkers, your female assistants, your female producers, your female costars? Why do men think that mentioning their female relatives is some kind of shorthand for “trust me, I’m a decent guy”? Breaking news: plenty of dudes who have daughters are pretty terrible people (see also: Harvey Weinstein, Donald Trump). Now, all that being said, I do believe him about the 2004 conversation – I think Harvey asked him to do it as a defense of Fabrizio Lombardo, to provide a character reference for Lombardo and that’s it, and that’s what Matt did.
Photos courtesy of WENN, Getty.
I am over Matt Damon.
Me too. He joins my boycott list, which includes: Mel Gibson, Tom Cruise, Casey Affleck, John Travolta, Polanski, Allen, Singer and anybody in Scientology.
Yep. Louis CK too. “Et tu, Louis?”
Agree with you, let’s add Johnny depp and Arnold terminator on the list too.
I forgot to add Depp to the list. Thanks for reminding me. What did Arnold do?
Unfortunately, any amount of digging will turn up things you may not want to know that will change your opinion.
Singers you like, actors you like… Teachers you liked in high school… There are some men who are super terrible. And then there are a lot of men who are low-key bad.
Arnold had a sexual relationship with a woman who was on his payroll & in a much, much, much lower position of power. And she had to clean up after him, his wife & kids the next day…….while bearing & raising his child in secret. Not sure about the relationship details but I don’t think any rom coms will be made about it.
@ Wendywoo
What on earth did Louise CK do???!!! I really can’t afford to not like him as he’s a staple on my daily comedy menu….
#M2C what Arnold did was called having an affair. Just like Jude Law did with the nanny. Theres a difference. You might as well add every actor in Hollywood to this list if you’re basing your disgust of men on affairs.
Did people fall asleep and forget Arnold Schwarzenegger’s groping scandal back in the day and how many women came forward to say he did it to them (one guy was with his gf when he did it to her and she slapped him). And this was before his lovechild scandal came out.
He was practically a pre-Trump Trump.
Bellagio: Women in comedy have allegedly reported Louis CK blocks his hotel door and makes them watch him masturbate. If you Google his name with Garfunkel and Oates or Tig Nitaro, you might find some hits regarding this behavior. (I may be wrong about who has alluded to it, but you can start there.)
It’s one of those open secrets most people seem to know about, but are afraid to report, because he’s among the very top comedians in the county.
I used to like him, but now I can’t look at him without feeling nauseous. He’s revolting.
That is the best way to handle it.
We talk about the power men have in Hollywood, but we continue to give them that by mostly going to movies with male leads, directors etc, where women only play secondary roles.
The best way to change it, is to use our money to support work by women.
I cancelled him years ago because I do not find him to be a compelling actor. Something about him just bores the crap out of me.
Him and his Captain James T. Kirk looking face needs to STFU.
Add Clooney. Google Vanessa Marquez. Or read the Affleck thread on here.
Oh please. How can you seriously put Matt Damon and Roman Polanski in the same category?
And explain this to me. If “everybody knew – we all knew” what Weinstein was like, why are we only hating on people like Damon now that it’s all come out? Why weren’t we cancelling him years ago for being associated with the Weinsteins? For that matter, why were any pf you going to Miramax films at all? This is nothing but a shaming witchhunt looking for people to project our guilt onto.
I think he knew. Come on, we all heard these rumors, and I live in Podunk, USA. How could Matt and Ben and George and all these other “enlightened” men not have heard anything?? And not acted on it in some way?
I don’t know. I am over people being quiet about this stuff, cause when we are quiet, the next person gets assaulted. We all have to speak out.
B itch please.
Lol. Amen!
Ugh, can’t stand this twerp.
Yup.
Matt and Ben knew the whole time and did nothing. Guilty!
Amen!! They all knew.
That video of Ben grabbing the Canadian reporter- fek them. They are part of this good ol’ boys club.
Ben grabbing Hilary Burton as well.. he’s gonna be Weinstein lite.
I never cared for Damon, so i cannot cancel him. But someone should repeat to him that he is part of the problem. Repeat and repeat…
Of course he knew! And Ben knew! And they cover for Casey who is Weinstein like without the same degree of power … same pathology.
I don’t trust Matt Damon as far as I could throw him.
Stop with the “I have a daughter, as the father of daughters” BS. Favourite line I heard yesterday; your wife gave birth to a human female, not a moral compass.
Ugh. If you didn’t know how to empathize with women before you had a daughter you were and likely still are a problem.
How are we suppose to trust him, when he spent his time covering up for Casey Affleck last Oscar season ? I agree with Kaiser on the performative wokeness, we should also add performative empathy.
This. I believe him about the phone call and the story. But that’s the end of it, because as I said yesterday, two words: CASEY AFFLECK.
He didnt say he didnt empathize before having his four daughters ^^
@Lori, I was generalizing but think of the implication there. The need to justify. “I understand! I have daughters!”; it’s just repackaged; “I couldn’t be racist! I have a Black friend!” It’s lazy.
Bill Murray has six sons, no daughters. So he can’t really understand it’s wrong to mistreat women? Colin Firth has three sons, no daughters? So he can’t really understand that it’s wrong to harass coworkers? I imagine both men would protest that. Having daughters should have NOTHING to do with whether you support women. It should be irrelevant to whether you support women and are decent to them.
It is the same as saying “But I have 2 black friends, I can’t be a racist”
The whole “I have daughters!” Line when talking about feminism and topics like this is ridiculous. So you couldn’t empathize before that? With other human beings? Please. At least Clooney did not mention his kids in his statement.
As a male on twitter said “I’m a feminist because I have a son. Men do better”
I always say something like this when people talk about how they think having girls is so much harder than having a boy, because girls have to be protected and girls are the potential victims, etc. and it’s so much more to worry about. And I’m like what??? so boys get a pass? No. it’s our job as mothers to raise boys with respect for women and to not raise little rapist predators, the kinds that will take pictures of girls who are passed out at parties or who don’t say anything when girls are sexually assaulted passed out at parties or who try to be coercive or manipulative or whatever else. Part of this is the terrible culture of ‘protecting’ our girls INSTEAD of putting that much energy into trying to perfect better outcomes while raising boys. I take great pains to tell people this on the playground when we talk about gender differences in raising kids. I tell other moms, look, my job is to not raise a little rapist.
That and boys/men can be victims too. And their shame is higher because NO ONE talks about them as victims. Terry talking about being groped at a industry party was vile. But you know what as a black man he had to think about the optics of how it would look if he even defended himself. That’s insane. But a testimony to the world we live in now
Drives me nuts. You should be appalled because of basic human decency. The end. The whole “I have daughters” thing just RUINS the entire statement, every time.
That’s the best line!
Interesting. Having Hispanic daughters hasn’t really helped out with diversity in the films he produces or stars in.
Right?!? His marriage to an WOC didn’t pump his breaks on laying his buddy’s failing at the WOC ex-gf’s feet. Nor talking down to a WOC producer.
And they have MOTHERS, MEMAWS, SISTERS, AUNTS, COUSINS, GFs, CLASSMATES, COWORKERS, etc before daughters. So no sympathy, regards, or respect for them?
Yeah, you should be able to empathize with these women because they are people, not because you have daughters.
YES. mentioning your daughter IS A SYMPTOM OF PATRIARCHY’S BENEFITS GIVEN TO YOU because you subconsciously believe that FATHERING YOUNG GIRLS DEEMS YOU INNOCENT, but IT DOES NOT. ONLY DIRECT ACTION AGAINST OTHER MEN WHO ARE ABUSIVE CAN DO THAT. Ugh. YELLING OVER HERE.
Matt D is problematic for many reasons– that call to Waxman was low on the list. And it’s overshadowing what I’d like to know, which is why the NYTimes killed it, and how Jodi Kantor got her piece published.
The call is whatever but the other stuff you mentioned is what I want to know too. Jodi will be on Rachel Maddow tonight.
“I did not have sufficient evidence to write about a pay-out, even though I knew one existed.”—Waxman 2009
But now she’s jumped in and made headlines claiming NYT gutted her article because of pressure from HW. The truth is she had one off-the-record source and that was deemed insufficient.
His damage control < his accountability in this mess. Own your complicity, dude. Bleh.
Truth! MD is the patriarchy and therefore this story is also about him, he needs to own up to that.
Wait, so he was asked to provide a reference for Fabrizio to kill the rumours that he & Weinstein had something to do with sexual harassment? And so W called him to tell Matt to give the reference but Matt didn’t know that his reference prevented the sexual truth to come out? Yeah, right… Not knowing the laws doesn’t make you less guilty! And what about all these parties they say he and Ben and Russell attended, organized by W – nice girls, etc. Pretty sure they were interested in a ‘piece’ to have fun, that’s why never said anything…
It should have occurred to him that since this Fabrizio guy was being accused of sleazing on women that MD’s vouching for his professionalism was irrelevant. He himself says in THIS interview that the abuse happens behind closed doors. So why couldn’t he connect the dots that he could not possibly be a character witness for how Fabrizio behaves behind closed doors with women? Matt Damon was not a young woman being targeted, so his response to HW should have been, “What is the relevance of my experience? I’m a man. My professional experience and a woman’s professional experience are not comparable.”
I know he’s not DUMB which means he is being intentionally obtuse here.
The story can be about a lot of things. Talking about how men like him back up other men is part of the story. That does not take anything away from the victims. It will even help possible future victims.
Someone could tell Matt, that men backing up other men without asking question is an important part of the story.
I agree. Women did tell people about Harvey, it was covered up and silenced while he continued to be a Hollywood big wig. That is a huge part of this story.
Yeah, I’m a little less annoyed with him now. I do think he performs his wokeness as you say and isn’t as amazing a guy as he likes to portray, but I think he’s telling the truth here. I also think it’s unfair that he’s getting the heat for ‘killing’ the 2004 story too. I don’t think Waxman’s story was quite as hard-hitting as she says. She only had rumours about that Italian guy’s role and nobody prepared to go on record. The NYT and New Yorker spent months on these stories and had multiple sources confirming and verifying their stories before they published and lots of people still thought they wouldn’t right up until it dropped because they believed that Weinstein would sue them into the ground for it. So I’m inclined to give him a pass on this one – he’s right he’s not the story here.
Sharon Waxman confirms that he wouldn’t have known the nature of the story or what it was really about. I posted her tweet below.
I guess I don’t know why Russell Crowe isn’t being called out as much as Damon.
I guess its because of their different images. Matt likes to act like the nice guy and Russell has a bad reputation. He is also more famous in the USA. I dont even know how relevant Crowe still is.
1. Matt didn’t think it was suspicious that he was being asked to call up a journalist to give a character reference when the usual protocall is journalist seeks out moviestar (or their handlers) to gain quotes (or character references) for a story?
2. Matt didn’t think it was suspicious that he was asked to give scripted character reference for a story he was unaware was being written until he was TOLD to approach said journalist?
3. Matt doesn’t appear curious about reasons that his good friend might be the subject of a ‘hit piece’. Please Matt, tell us why you concluded it was a hit piece. In your own words. Not words Harvey scripted for you.
Exactly. The guy is a Harvard dropout. He can’t possibly be that stupid.
You bring up good points but I feel like Damon addressed each of those things. What was interesting to me was how careful he was to stick with “the facts” about a very specific situation. It was like he was compartmentalizing so tightly so that he didn’t have to address anything else. Like if he knew he veered off topic at all, he’d be forced to address even more. Pretty slimy.
Esmom: that’s the glaring point.
Yet, many people will accept his obsfucating answer and give him a pass.
Academic smarts and social stupidity is what he might be working with.
And idc if you don’t ask or aren’t super aware of your surroundings. When you work with people more than a month all the dirt filters through in passing conversations. They knew. He knew. It was just weighed that he had more to gain by not kicking up dust. Dust being acting on morality and ethics.
Damon did say Weinstein said it was a negative piece about Fabrizio, a hit job maybe that is what Weinstein said. He didn’t give a verbatim he just said he spoke to her and told her about his experience, and the reporter agreed with that assessment of her conversation with him. I don’t think that is so unusual for him. I believe him on this.
More disconcerting is his ties over the years with Weinstein, but it does sound to me like he could have heard things but put his head in the sand and just didn’t look too hard because he liked making movies. Unfortunately, I think a lot of people did this.
However go ahead and bash him if you like, it is preferred to the bashing of some of the women, but I’ll be happy when we get the point where the abusers get the full weight of our wrath and we don’t dilute it with other maybe they knew or didn’t know crap.
The lack of curiosity of what the story was about is what I don’t get either. I’m a really nosy person, so someone not being curious at all is just strange to me. If the hit piece was going to be negative, I’d certainly want to know WHY.
Noway: by all means we have to bash the perps, BUT evil deeds flourish when good people do nothing or keep their heads down ostrich fashion. See no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil = evil flourishes.
Matt Damon, by his lack of curiosity about this article, enabled evil to flourish. Inadvertently obviously. Same end result.
Btw, has the almost maligned Fabrizio put out a statement to defend himself over this ressurected story?
I hope this doesn’t come off as excusing Damon but re: lack of curiosity, can I say that it could be symptomatic of his gender?
I might be stepping in it here but it’s something I always notice with the men in my lives: they just care nothing for details, not into gossip and never seem to want to know the particulars about people.
It frustrates me with my BF because I always have to ask a million questions about everything and if it’s something about say, his roommate, he just won’t know. I’m like “HOW did you not ask him a follow-up question? HOW do you not know ANYTHING??”
The other scenario is that they just disregarded what they heard as rumors out of sheer convenience. Easier to just not acknowledge it so you can work with the guy and get your business deal done and not have to worry about his moral character.
It could also be a combination of both things.
I’ve been done with Damon for a while now so this is no loss for me. But for my mental and emotional sanity I’m trying to remain open-minded because if it’s true that every asshole in Hollywood knew and said nothing well…that is just too much for my fragile kitten soul to bear.
@Kitten – you have a good point there. I’ve had a lot of relationships in my long life and in almost every one, the man would completely disregard an issue that was quite serious. Just brush it off like it didn’t matter, but it DID. I remember one case where the best friend of the man I lived with hit on me, but when I mentioned it to my then boyfriend he just poo-pooed it. It wasn’t until this douche came onto another friend’s wife at a party and said friend put him in a choke-hold did my boyfriend pay it any attention. I call it the “turtle reaction”. Mr. Jaded tends to just pull his head inside his shell until whatever crisis is happening blows over. Fortunately he does listen to me when I have to vent about something or other, usually something to do with his batsh*t crazy ex-wife because I had to point out, very clearly, that I’m part of the equation now and if something’s happening that could affect me, he needs to step up and address it, not just kick it under the carpet.
And yes, I’m very over Damon too. Add him to the list of actors I refuse to watch in movies….it’s getting longer every day.
If complicity is the story, then yes, this is ENTIRELY fair. Especially after the role he played in Casey Affleck’s Oscar campaign. And there are other reasons to think that his white male privilege have blinded him. Damon does not deal with criticism well. He didn’t deal with it well when he played white savior in the Great Wall, he didn’t deal well with Effie Brown trying to advocate for diversity. He’s mansplainy and I don’t believe he didn’t know about Weinstein.
That’s kind of what bugs me about the Weinstein scandal. How many men are out there talking about protecting their mothers and daughters and sisters when in fact they’re up to their own creepiness and are praying that they don’t get caught like Weinstein did? I’m not thinking Damon, but I am thinking of at least some of the men in the long list above. What are they doing now to protect their business and reputation and assets from accusers/”liars”. Are they doubling down on the women they have already taken advantage of?
For now, guys on list, Weinstein will be the focal point, but not forever.
“I didn’t see it” – The line that broke my effing heart – a former BIG fan of Matt Damon’s.
Same. I thought he was one of the few good ones.
I think the bigger story is Ben Affleck. I promise not to thread jack and will wait for you to get to it. I don’t think Matt Damon knew of anything specifically but he heard rumors. I also agree he only vouched for Fabrizio Lombardo because Harvey asked him to. Instead of asking himself the tough questions and maybe digging a little deeper like Clooney at least tried, Damon does this nonsense.
Yes, Clooney is the only one here who seems mostly honest, in that he said he knew Weinstein was a dog who liked to hit on young women, but didn’t know it went a lot further than that. I can see that Clooney would have thought it was distasteful, but not a million miles away from Clooney’ s own patterns with women.
Damon, and particularly Affleck, are another story. Affleck obviously knew, and since he is best buds with Damon, he knew too. The fact that they are pretending ALL of this is news to them is just total bs. Own your piece in this, you cowards! Harvey is 100% responsible for his own actions, but there is a culture that allowed this to happen.
No, no, no with Clooney. Google Vanessa Marquez. I bet a pap walk with the twins is in order about now…lol. I never could stand his fakey fakeness cool hand luke personality. Let all the chickens come home to roost on these “men”.
@homeslice you keep on leaving her name in this thread, but there’s literally nothing about them? am I too stupid to find it on google? do you mind to elaborate?
I think it is on jezebel in the comments – she complained about weinsteiny behavior and George was like, sorry that is hollywood behavior, cannot help you deal.
Why do people keep saying “everybody knew”?
Celebrities are rich and have perks, but they are also human. They downplay, they dont want to admit how bad something is. How many of us actually jump to action when we here of something bad possibly happening?
They all heard rumors and they all figured he was a horny bastard, but none of them thought he was raping. The same way nobody believed the truth about Cosby at first, the same way neighbors of serial killers use the terms “but he was such a quiet man!” and “I never knew!”
Actors have cushy lifestyles, and they have been subjected to nasty lies the entire time they’be been in the spotlight by websites (who shall remain nameless but isn’t this one!) who pull stories out of their asses and print whatever they want. Is it really unbelievable that a celebrity would wave away such a crazy story?
Edit- yeah, some of them knew. But i truly believe the complicit were few and far between. Don’t care about Damon either way.
I agree. “I’m someone who lives far away and I knew”. Reading all the gossip stuff, I thought he was a creepy guy who threw his weight around to get what he wanted, but I didn’t know it was as bad as it turned out to be. And the stuff with Gretchen Mol? Well, that turned out to be false and it ruined her career. And who knows how much of the gossip was planted by him? How can you trust any of it and would you put your career on the line based on it?
It’s easy to say “everyone knew and should’ve done something about it” when you’re not directly involved and have nothing to lose.
People keep saying “everybody knew” because alllllllll of us who live in Who Knows Where City in Whatever Country knew. So if we all knew, they all knew.
I very much take your point that: “How many of us actually jump to action when we here of something bad possibly happening?” because I’m sure I don’t just speak for myself when I say that I’ve seen bad things happen in my workplace and have been too scared for my job to say anything. That is certainly my fault and certainly something I need to work on. But I knew such things were happening. For all of these celebrities to say that they had no idea is just BS.
Exactly. I will follow it up with adding that there are varying degrees of ‘not knowing.’
You can ‘not know’ your husband is a serial killer because he did it on all his business trips and put up a charming alternative life around you.
You can technically also ‘not know’ that your husband had abducted and murdered a young woman, because you never really checked to see what the pesky screaming and yelling in the back shed was.
I’m just going to go ahead and say that the bulk of the ‘not knowers’ are probably a little farther to the wrong side of the continuum than any moral person would be happy. If these are celebrities who ‘did not know’ about Weinstein, but also defend Polanski to the hilt, fuck ’em. They wouldn’t be repulsed by it, even if they did now, to further their careers.
It’s not even about jumping to action. They worked with him and were friendly with him. They helped provide him with social cover while he supplied them with funding.
Did you read the “I got Haveyed” article? The writer in that piece says she called Rufus Sewell after and he said he’d been trying to warn her all night. He specifically said everyone knew. Also, Glenn Close talks about allowing herself to be blinded to him. I understand why people can’t come forward with rumors, but I don’t believe a lot of these people when they say they didn’t know.
It seems like many of them felt that young women would sleep with or exchange sexual favors with Harvey in order to get a leg up in the business. As in these women were doing this willingly to get ahead. Even if that were true, it’s still an abuse of power and his position. The actually truth is obviously much worse, and yeah I can buy that maybe some of them didn’t know, but a lot of these actresses said they told someone. Hollywood might be a bubble, but word travels fast around town. People knew he was shady and using his position in a way that was wrong and that is enough.
Exactly. Their protestations that they didn’t KNOW ANYTHING is total bs. They knew this guy was creepy towards women and had a volcanic and abusive temper. Admit your suspicions and say that you’re glad that the world is changing and men like this are going to be called out and not allowed to continue their behavior. But this “I knew nothing” makes them look like idiots and enablers.
Bullsh*t! Yes, you are the story, Matt. You and everyone else who heard the rumors and turned off your eyes and ears. Predators can only operate in an environment of indifference.
Yeah, that was a pretty smooth — and transparent — deflection.
Yes, especially the part about predators can only operate in an environment of indifference. Look at ALL it took to bring Weinstein down – and it is still besides Nathan Lane, and the reporter who was assaulted by Harvey at a party, mostly women complaining.
Guys like Ben and Matt weren’t scared that other men could be violently assaulted even? It is just such BS.
He is part of the story because he was an enabler.Denial and a statement made up from his publicist isn’t going to make this go away.
And for someone who’s “not the story here”, his rehearsed speech sure went on and on and on…
So Matt, and other horrified men, what are you doing moving forward to help?
To change this culture, because let’s not get it wrong, this is the result the acceptance of this type of behaviour on a milder scale.
Because I’d say start with your idiot friends. Call out the asshole who is sober and trolls the bars for drunk girls at last call. Call out the friend who ‘can wear down’ any woman’s objections. Call out the friend who gets mad and calls the girl a bitch when he’s rejected.
We all probably know one broken step, let’s stop stepping over it and fix it.
YES!
There is a dodgy, handsy man in almost every workplace. All the women know about him. None of the men know about him BECAUSE THEY DON’T WANT TO KNOW and the women DON’T TRUST THEM TO KNOW.
Weinstein’s offending is only this egregious because he had more power than most of the other handsy men in the other workplaces. That’s all.
It will only change when the #notallmen brigade actually do want to know and are prepared to challenge it to the extent that women can trust them.
Thats the rub, all these people rushing to say – so disgusting, how horrid. To all of these people I say:
You say that now that he is KNOWN to have raped people. What were you saying before?
Did you create an environment that the vulnerable felt coming forward to tell their story? When they told you of the upset they felt, did you dismiss it as rumor, or over reaction?
If you did you are part of the bloody problem. I don’t care how upset you are now. Examine yourself.
You didn’t understand before, you didn’t see it. Fine, denial is a hell of a drug, and everyone messes up. The veil is ripped off now though, there are no more excuses.
I want to hear how these disgusted men and women are working to stop this personally. How they are going to notice this behaviour moving forwards. Notice the warning signs and protect the vulnerable from their positions of power.
Every single person who heard those rumors and brushed them off (i just thought it was rumors), or diminished them (he’s a dog, didn’t know he was a rapist), contributed to this problem. Own your shit. Own it and fix it.
Yes. A “dog” in a position of power = an ABUSER. This is the point men don’t want to acknowledge. And the point women have to work around, whether that means giving up career prospects or not giving up career prospects depending on which way they go vis a vis complicity.
Someone brought up the actors union yesterday. Why aren’t there protections in place for young actors? The vast majority of actors are vulnerable to this so where are their union reps to look out for their interests?
All the pledges to listen and learn are bs to me. I’m using the same expression I used yesterday -Harvey was a “broken step.” Everyone knew and worked around it.
Unions are usually pretty powerful, but often when it comes to difficulties between members they are neutered. I’m not sure if Weinstein is part of SAG, I’m assuming now, but I know in my Union this is an issue that frequently comes up.
As well, many Unions are only just now putting in place verbiage addressing sexual assault and harassment.
@detrius-yes, it’s just being written in for both movies and theater. It’s been part of both cultures forever. That doesn’t make it right, of course, but everyone acting like Weinberg is the only one is ridiculous.
@detritus! That was very dumb of me to miss that you used the same phrase in the post I was responding to. Sorry about that.
No don’t be sorry, its based on an article that should always be shared:
http://pervocracy.blogspot.ca/2012/06/missing-stair.html
Waxman is a hack and liar so I don’t blame him for her issue because she is known for being shady but I do blame him for being less than genuine here.
Matt always answers questions when he is in trouble with sugar coated defensiveness instead of just being honest and apologizing about his failures. I don’t think he knew the man was a rapist but I think he knew he was aggressive with women. I don’t blame him for Harvey but now is the time to understand this problem and make changes and be part of the solution, not because of his daughters but because it is the right thing to so.
Yeah, I’m with you Mag.
He needs to be with us not because he’s married to a lady, and the father to girls, but because he believes in equity and human rights.
Coogler got it right on that front, completely.
I don’t think it’s just because of his daughters-but it makes it more real when you can visualize someone you love, and are protective of, being put in that position.
“Matt always answers questions when he is in trouble with sugar coated defensiveness instead of just being honest and apologizing about his failures.”
EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.
I think this is White Male Nice Guy Syndrome, like he’s just so used to being adored and lauded in his privileged little bubble that he just can’t understand why anyone would criticize him.
It sucks because the way he handles things makes EVERYTHING worse. There was a window of time in the beginning of Damon’s downward spiral that he could have issued a genuine apology and taken the edge off of some of his stupid behavior but he refused to.
oh deitrus, YES, YES, YES! tHANK YOU for your excelent statmeent
Yes! Yes and yes! Can I just say how much I love your thoughtful, insightful comments on this and most other topics.
So you’re going to have a word with Casey? No? Yeah, thought so.
And as IF Ben didn’t know. The partying, drinking, poker playing, stripper-loving Ben didn’t know? Didn’t run in circles where he heard? Doesn’t know about his brother?
They can all go f*ck themselves. I used to love Matt on screen. I’m taking a looong break from him.
ETA: I feel like it’s hard to separate him and Ben Affleck. Is that just a feeling or are they actually still really close?
Hey, now. He ‘doesn’t know’ Casey did anything yet! The story hasn’t broken.
Matt and Ben are friends from childhood or at least teenagerhood, along with Casey Affleck IIRC. When women are friends from way back, it seems sweet. When men are that way, and they have a history of strip clubs, denigrating each other’s exes (Matt on JLo), not calling out sexual predators in their friend or business circle, it nauseates me
Nobody likes to confront friends but sometimes it must be done.
I bet their texts and emails are them furiously trying to cover their tracks while also trying to get ahead of this story.
He WISHES he wasn’t the story!
Sharon Waxman confirms what Damon is saying. https://twitter.com/sharonwaxman/status/917821882556022786
Too late, the pitchforks are already alight.
Yes, Waxman confirmed his story.
That is not really my problem. I don’t think he really killed the NYT story, it was more Harvey putting pressure on the owners.
Rather, my issue with Matt is that he was working on the Talented Mr. Ripley, with Paltrow. I do not recall who she was dating at the time but seriously?
I have a hard time believing that neither Affleck nor Pitt (or Paltrow) have said anything about Harvey in all these years.
Agreed. I don’t really care about that NYT story and I can buy that he didn’t know the details. I just think that a lot of these men either thought the women were willingly sleeping with Harvey to get ahead and they were part of the problem, or purposely choosing to turn a blind eye to the situation because Harvey was such an influential Hollywood big wig.
Paltrow made a statement yesterday around the same time Angelina Jolie’s statement hit the waves. She said the only person she told was Brad Pitt (whom she was dating at the time) and she said he helped her with it.
If Ben knew, Matt Damon knew, I don’t believe Ben did not tell him they have been best friends for years. Btw, if Gwen told Brad I’ll bet she told Ben who she dated after Brad and they were all in the same business. The wife knew also.
But knew what? Everyone knew he had a reputation as a horny bastard who aggressively came onto women. Some capitulated, others did not and chose to avoid him professionally as much as possible. But given the NDAs everyone in Hollywood signed, very few knew he was pressuring women beyond their consent, paying settlements, and committing abuses. There are multiple levels here, I believe the women who say they didn’t know how bad it was.
Yeah, I was gonna say, unpopular opinion here: while I do agree that Damon “performs his wokeness,” his story sounds plausible to me. He knew he was helping Weinstein out, but he likely didn’t know out of what exactly.
Here’s the thing. I can believe that Matt thought he was just vouching for Fabrizio and I could even believe that Matt was blinded by his own white male privilege and never realized that Harvey went further than hitting on young women (which is bad as it is)….except for one thing….
That thing is Ben knew and if Ben knew I highly suspect Matt knew that Harvey was a monster. There are a lot of performative friendships in Hollywood, but Matt and Ben have always been tight (they lived literally down the street from one another) and back in the late 99’s early 00’s they were even tighter.
ITA. I’m not sure how close Damon and Affleck are right now, but this has been going on with Harvey for years and they were best friends and working colleagues for years. There is just no damn way Affleck didn’t tell Damon, or it didn’t come up professionally.
Damon probably wouldn’t have known that Harvey was a rapist, but I bet he knew that he was using his power to abuse women and intimidate them.
ITA with both of you.
there’s no way in hell he didn’t know Lombardo was a pimp with a fake production credit to hide his real job. He must have favored from him if he was so promptly and willing to talk good things about someone who he supposedly barely knew. Damon is the ultimate hypocrite. He’s also been around too long with the Afflecks to not know that they are sexual harassers too. He’s probably too.
PS Damon already joking about Weinstein at Kimmel is the proof he doesn’t really gives a shit and he’s totally tone deaf.
All I get from this interview is ‘BUT Harvey said it was going to be a negative article about Fabrizio, so I just called the journalist and told her Fabrizio is cool’. MD didn’t even bother to ask the journalist what the article was about? Way to go, Matt.
THIS.
Yeah like, the NYT just happened to write a story about a random italian dude, for NO REASON and harvey cared out of the goodness of his heart to try and quash the story….right before Damon bought the Brooklyn bridge that was for sale.
Yeah, I agree with you to a certain extent about Matt’s “wokeness”. His work with clean water is well-documented and seems real, but everything else seems like a bunch of hypocritical bs.
1) He believes in building up strong public schools yet sends his kids to posh private schools.
2) Says he believes in racial equality and yet doesn’t promote it in front of or behind the scenes where he works.
There are other things but those are just off the top of my head.
He, like most white people like him, mean well but end up doing more harm than good because they don’t see that they are part of the problem because they believe they aren’t doing anything wrong.
Back to the story, he is right that the story is not about him, but no one was making it about HIM specifically. Men helped make an environment where Harvey’s behavior is ok. He is a part of that environment whether he likes it or not. Instead of mildly complaining and deflecting, men like him need to step up and do better to make sure things like this don’t happen again. For example, not supporting your best friend and his sleazy brother when they do something similar to women. He may not have known about Harvey, but he probably knows a lot about Casey and Ben.
Shut up, whitesplainer.
I love you.
It’s also a story of how apathy or outright support for Weinstein’s actions allowed it to go on this long, but nice try, Matt. Men don’t get to reap the benefits of a patriarchal culture and then forfeit the responsibilities when their fellows abuse that power.
I think when men say the “mothers, sisters, daughters” thing, it shows their true colors. Between this and his weird racism comments, and his stupid Great Wall movie, I’m kind of over Matt Damon at this point.
He lied to protect Harvey Weinsteine. He helped quash a story that would have exposed all this years ago. That’s straight up shameful. I could say that i lost all respect for him, but i didn’t have any to begin with.
How did he lie? He worked with Lombardo on The Talented Mr. Ripley where other actors and actresses would have seen this guy on set as well. Paltrow was also in Talented Mr. Ripley. If Damon is lying she is the one to make that statement, and she hasn’t.
Yes, Veronica. Also, O.J. Simpson can truthfully say, “I have two daughters.” So fucking what? The rapist director of Birth of a Nation said, “I have five daughters.” So fucking what? Congrats to them: they didn’t rape or kill their own daughters. You are fucking heroes of the world! Harvey Weinstein has at least one daughter (the seven-year old with Georgina). Means absolutely nothing.
“Congrats to them: they didn’t rape or kill their own daughters. You are fucking heroes of the world! ”
This post really took me back for a second and then took my breath away.
You’re right.
Part of ‘what happened’ is that you personally helped to shut down a story about the woman and what happened. So, yeah, you are a part of ‘the story here.’
Asshole.
So I do believe him that he didn’t know the context of the story in 2004. Sharon Waxman backs that up, and in general I don’t think its probably that unusual for celebrities to contact reporters to try to protect reputations of their friends.
Now, I find it hard to believe that he knew nothing else about Weinstein.
I really don’t like his response. He worked closely with Harvey Weinstein for years and years. Of course he knew. I can’t even believe he is denying it. He may not have seen it happen, but he had to have known about his reputation, must have heard the stories. It upsets me that he denies any of this, and then deflects by saying he is not the story. He’s over in my eyes.
Seriously this “I have female relatives” thing? CANCELLED. In fact, I am even more suspicious of men who say that, as if using the women and girls in their lives as a shield. I have male relatives, but when the Joe Paterno story broke, I didn’t think “I have a Father!” That has nothing to do with anything! My father had nothing to do with any pervs like that. I cared because these were human beings who were targeted, victimized, and violated in the grossest way possible. So stfu about your sisters/mothers/daughters unless they were victims of this sort of behavior (and gave you their blessing to discuss them). You probably treat them like ass, too.
Yep!!!
You are right!
It reminds me of rhetoric right wingers used here in Germany when they basically tried to claim every refugee is a potential rapist. Right wingers came out with statements like “OUR women are not fair game” or “Protect OUR women”. We are not YOUR women! Don’t use US in your warped vendetta. Because you only care about OUR “safety” when assault is committed by a POC. If assault is committed by one of their own, they call US sluts and liars.
I don’t want to compare Matt Damon to right wingers, but this rhetoric just annoys me. Women are not just sisters, daughters and mothers. I only count until my mother dies? Because since I’m an only child and don’t have kids – daughter is the only thing I have going for me?
That’s literally the “reason” the KKK came up with to exist and lynch black people. To protect white women from black rapists. Fuck these people. I am so sorry about your elections.
Thank you.
“Fuck these people” is exactly what I thought when results of the election were announced.
I was angry – so angry. I’m angry about losing my “well, we should listen to right wing voters. We have to listen to their concerns” approach. I don’t want to listen to them, hear their reasons, listen to their “I’m not racist, but…” and “Germans first” and “Fuck off Merkel”.
I need places like Celebitchy, where I can read eloquent and thoughtful discussions, because when I read Facebook or Twitter I lose hope, that all of this is going to end well.
Hey, I so underwrite what you are saying. And I am still in shellshock that the AFD basically came out as really right during election process and still people voted for them. I happened to stumble into an election poster of them with the words: Neue Deutsche? Machen wir selber! (new germans? We’ll make them ourselves!)
@xena: I know what you mean. All of their posters were blatant racist and Islamophob. The voter’s racism (of course they claim they’re not, because they have a black friend) is so deep, they can’t see how the AfD would work ultimately against them.
Trump has daughters, so yeah, that statement proves nothing.
Vulture wrote a really good article yesterday addressing this kind of rhetoric, my favorite line was ” your wives gave birth to a baby girl, not a moral compass”.
“I have daughters” is the new “I have a black friend”. Nearly all of the sexual abusers and harassers I read about in the news today have daughters and they certainly all had mothers. That’s the thing with family. We typically care about them much more than we do total strangers, and that is the case with sexual predators. They can love their daughters and even act feminist when it comes to who messes with their female relatives, and at the same time go out that night and rape or murder a woman who means nothing to them. Men are very good at separating the women they care about with all the rest who to them are just sexual objects to be exploited.
Plus, out of my personal experience being the only daughter of a lawyer didn’t help me anything with being heard and acknowledged as a victim of sexual abuse. My father tried to shut me down (being yelled at in such a moment from the person I trusted took a major toll on me) and to this day refuses to even say sorry, that I didn’t believe you and sorry how I treated you. And your mother (she didn’t and doesn’t know about the abuse but she was the first to come up with, no something is wrong, that man is lying when he says he hasn’t talked to my daughter alone). Furthermore when a man showed me his dick when I was 14, we called the police, but the main reaction of him was, But I told you not to bring you in such a situation! (The man asked me for a direction advise on a street, so I couldn’t expect that) Just sick of all of this at the moment. And no, fathers do not step up for their daughters because they are fathers to a daughter.
I don’t have a problem believing him about what happened. But I’m over the ‘I have a daughter’ line. Sure you do, but I’m not your daughter. My father of course loves me and gets all feminist when it comes to me. Just me. He’s definitely not ‘woke’ when it comes to women in general. I have two little cousins who are half-black and he adores them and their black mother, yet still doesn’t get why NFL players kneel. I love him, but woke he is not, and at his age (74) probably never will be. So that’s just a line that means nothing. You love the people in your life; that doesn’t mean you give a crap about anyone else.
Matt and Ben and Casey are still best friends. They spent the holidays/New Year’s together in Montana this year. Matt and Ben are prducing a new Showtime series set in Boston, City on a Hill.
My point is that Matt Damon is still deeply involved with the Afflecks to this day. He was the exec producer of Manchester by the Sea, personally gave Casey the lead role and also was a key force in making sure Casey didn’t get pressed on his sexual harassment suit during the Oscar campaign. In my opinion, Matt is even more to blame than Ben when it comes to covering up for Casey. There’s just no way Matt didn’t know about Harvey. Did anyone see the E! article just 3 days ago about how Matt is one of the only guys in HWood to maintain a squeaky clean image. Gee, what timing.
My only issue is that Casey is a childhood friend and Ben’s brother. I would not readily believe a woman who said one of my brothers hurt them and it would be painful to think about or consider. It is a lot to ask someone to publicly throw someone they have known since they were children under a bus. I have no idea what their private conversations have been like. I especially don’t expect that from Ben. Either way, I certainly wouldn’t involve strangers in my process of dealing with it.
Harvey is not close to them, and I don’t blame them for Harvey, but I side eye tepid remarks that are too far in the denial department and not enough in the personal responsibility department. He is one of the few actors I expect a sincere answer from, and this isn’t it.
Agree with all of that 100%, @magnoliarose.
Yeah, that’s a fair point. I’d find it automatic to believe someone I’d known and seen as almost family from childhood. I think we all would.
He is such a liar. He is another one who needs to go. It is sick the way he and some of the other men try to hide behind their wives and daughters.
I buy he had no idea about what the story was about, and I buy that he had a good experience when working with him. I buy that making a call to a journalist is rather commonplace. I buy that he had no clue he was working with a rapist. And I buy that the thought of someone doing that to his wife and daughters turns his stomach. I believe him when he says if he had witnessed anything he would have put a stop to it.
But he’d heard the rumors, the whispers and accepted that Harvey was requiring women to “perform” in some fashion for roles. He considered it transactional, something that had been going on in hollywood since it started, and won’t be ending anytime soon, so he ignored it. Like just about EVERYONE ELSE. Seriously. Everyone ignored it. Harvey was a powerful man, charming, doing a lot of good work and a lot of heavy lifting. No point in rocking that boat.
He isn’t guilty of looking the other way, he is guilty of not wanting to look any further. There was an entire industry guilty of that. I don’t think pilloring Matt Damon is going to solve the problem. Although I can see where it would be cathartic. The entire culture in Hollywood is toxic, and fumigating is in order. So I agree with him he isn’t the focus. That Harvey W could get away with so much for so long without any repercussions? THAT should be the focus.
An aside, I have bigger problems with all the people setting these women up for “meetings” knowing what they would entail. I am having a hard time trying to understand leaving a woman alone knowing she was about to be assaulted. I cannot understand that. I tried to, I know the helplessness one feels when dealing with an abuser. But holy sh*t, how do you shut that door and walk away?
Whatever Matt. You, your buddy Ben and his brother, and your friend George need to exit stage left. You knew. Man with power making sexual advances to women/men/children in more submissive roles whose careers are on the line = sexual harassment or worse. How do people not know what sexual harassment in the workplace is?! Damage control.
Get off my fantasy hubby!!! Look, he may or may not have been complicit, but he’s not all THAT bright. Plus he’s a man, he made millions off of the films he did with HW and he’s right that this should be about the victims. Let’s focus on supporting the victims and let the predator’s enablers learn their lesson in all of this.
The guy went to HARVARD. They do not allow dummies into that school. So no, he doesn’t get a pass. He’s problematic on many levels. But yes, he was right on one thing, we should focus on the victims.
H: agreed he got into Harvard, however he did not graduate! Just making sure you were aware 😉
Texasho, when Matt Damon left Harvard he went with his screenwriting script in hand to Hollywood, where he and Ben, who was already in L.A., started rewrite it. You may have heard of it, Good Will Hunting. He left Harvard in his senior year and he didn’t flunk out. Just making sure you were aware.
The bigger issue is, as many said, predators thrive when no one says, “hey that is assault” – and the words have to come from both men and women.
a person like Matt Damon doesn’t get to where he is without playing the game – seeing something, saying nothing.
If he was just some sweet artistic dude, it would have been Good Will Hunting, some films after the Oscar, like Colin Firth.
But Damon and Affleck wanted power, they wanted to be kingmakers, why else would they have partnered with Harvey on Project Greenlight?
No Matt you are wrong, You are an assessory to the story.
You knew and your silence was support and let it continue.
Guilty. You, George, Ben and most of Hollywood.
i believe his statement and he’s still cancelled. matt damon is like my personal tyra banks gif….i was rooting for you. we were all rooting for you!!!!
HAHAHA I am sorry to laugh but that gif is hilarious.
Shame.
He has a right to defend himself. As to whether I believe him, that’s another story. I never liked him and this is just another reason for me to keep avoiding his work.
The main reason why I don’t believe all the “i swear i didn’t knew!” group is that these rumors have been around for years! In the gossip world it was well known Harvey was a shady disgusting man, we just didn’t know the extent. That’s why I believe Clooney’s story but not Damon, Affleck or Lawrence, he said he heard rumors but underestimated them. At this point I’d have a tad bit more respect if someone comes forward and said “Yes, it was a known rumor, I’m sorry I ignored it” that all these “I swear I didnt knew, he’s not my friend anymore”
As I said on a previous thread, I was done with Matt after his Effie Brown debacle. His dismissal of her spoke volumes on how he disrespected women & especially women of color. I see through his BS statement here. Stop selling the BS line that you have “daughters”. Quit dragging them into your disgusting behavior & mindset.
Rose McGowan tweeted that she told Ben Affleck when it happened to her so there’s no doubt that Matt knew too. I think Matt, Ben & the other men knew what was going on but somehow told themselves the women were going along with it, so no big deal. As long as they weren’t affected, “nothing to see here”. All of the abusers & enablers make me sick.
To people like Damon, women are only important because we’re extensions of men. We’re some man’s wife, daughter, sister, neighbour etc. How about you care about us just because we’re people, period.
@ eatingpie, ^^ EXACTLY.
Boom. You said it.
Fingers crossed inside those pockets, I’ll bet.
I think most men don’t stand up to other men about the abuse of women because they think it will open up the floodgates for others to point out the faults in their own life & it will also raise the bar for their own behaviour. So, they know, but they stay quiet and rationalize the shit out of their decision so that it won’t seem so bad.
What they forget, is the predator you enable today is the same predator that will come after your mom, sister, daughter or wife. There is no invisible line that will protect them.
Actually, he IS the story, despite his reps pathetic attempt at deflection. The story is about a culture of enabling that allowed a predator to commit 30 or more years of abuse. I don’t really blame small time actors, though we’re all responsible for our choices. But that is not Damon. Damon was/is a power-player in Hollywood. He helped nurture a system of tolerance, whether he admits it or not. There is a difference between enabling a crime and committing one, but the former exists nonetheless.
Seconded, and given how he has championed Casey Affleck, he and his actions are very much part of the larger story.
^this!! I forgot about the Casey Affleck thing, that makes this so much worse. Actions speak louder than words.
I vote cancel them all. But the whole relation to having daughters etc. yes it does bug but I’ve also found that for a lot of men they truly don’t understand the damage, fear, or everyday obstacles we face. It takes being in very close proximity and a sense of intimacy (platonic or otherwise) with a woman who details the ins and outs of it for them to realize we’re not just being dramatic. So i can also understand that argument within reason. Sexism is more nuanced than they realize and they don’t know until they have those wives, sisters, and daughter to outline it for them and show them what to look for
He seems like a guy who’s coasted on being considered better than the company he keeps but you really can’t keep that kind of company for so long and not fall in with the bro club mentality. I think he’s just been better at covering/concealing it, and receiving the benefit of the doubt, until the last six or seven years – because since then his ass has been practically out full-time.
I’d been side-eyeing him before that but in the last few years he’s managed to reverse any good opinion I’ve had of him. He’s an awful lot of pageantry rn.
I’d say hes on the public opinion tipping point for good reason. Don’t even feel sorry for him, he played himself, and he’ll just default to writing and producing if it gets bad. He’ll still have a career.
Very, very hard to believe he never at least heard rumors. Sounds like it was a pretty open secret.
I don’t really get how dudes haven’t yet gotten the message that it doesn’t fing matter whether you have a sister or not. It matters if you’re a damn human.
I don’t think Matt is the worst player here; I don’t think he’s the best either.
Chastain was not shy in calling him out. She lived in the middle of that world and she seems like a non-crazy. I’d like to hear what she has to say about Matt’s comments.
Also, they all need to be speaking against this not just in Hollywood, but EVERYWHERE, EVERY dude, EVERY woman. If we put together a book of stories of bullshit harassment each woman has experienced, we’d need volumes upon volumes. And most of those women don’t have millions to fall back on. I have several examples and pretty much every woman I know has experienced this shit.
Between this shit and ppl voting for dt, men better get their shit together pretty quick b/c WOW, lotta y’all SUCK right now.
Matt Damon gonna Matt Damon…and by Matt Damon I mean asshole.
I vaguely alluded to this in a post above, but are we really supposed to believe that E! just randomly “decided” to run this glowing puff piece on Matt on Sunday? Seems more like his PR team suspected Matt was about to be pulled into the fray – because lo and behold, Rose McGowan called him out directly on Twitter the very next day.
An Investigation into Matt Damon’s Image: How He Manages to Keep His Life Running Smoothly as His Fellow Stars Stumble: http://www.eonline.com/news/885420/an-investigation-into-matt-damon-s-image-how-he-manages-to-keep-his-life-running-so-smoothly-as-his-fellow-stars-stumble
He knew – Ben knew too.
I think they all heard rumors, but what could they do. Harvey is the money guy. The same can be said about all the women who new. Why didn’t they come forward…. because Harvey is the money guy. He has the connections to get a movie green lighted. Not only that he had the media connection to make or break a career. If Matt is guilty of not doing something so is every single person male and female that made a movie with Harvey. I love taking people down, but lets not pick and choose who is guilty of the same behavior.
I agree with that. I don’t buy that they didn’t know. I do buy that they couldn’t do anything about it.
It would just be easier to like and respect them if they showed the sort of courage the women who have fronted with this have had to – they had to say they knew about it. Why can’t these men?
Matt Damon uses the exact grammar liars do to deny something they did: „I would never have done such a thing” . He’s so full of shit he could be a manure truck.
Like…
I *want* to believe him.
He’s always come off as such a decent guy. He just *looks* so earnest and nice.
But …
I mean, c’mon.
I’m going to get a ration of shit for this but here goes: I don’t think there is this secret club for all men where they know everything other men are doing. I dated a sociopath and had no idea he was a fucking sociopath until the day I found out. I think he’s right in that this shit happens behind closed doors. Weinstein was a powerful man in Hollywood and he was able to hide the sexual assault behind closed doors. Women chose careers over ratting the guy out. Others not assaulted weren’t sure if what they were being told was true or not. (I used to have a friend who made up stories about men abusing her only to have the same person say “no, it wasn’t true, but I really hated him.”) Years ago if the same thing had happened to me when I was still climbing up the Hollywood ladder I probably would have kept quiet too … and tried to stay away from the asshole. Paltrow told Pitt about it and Pitt probably had enough pull to stop it. Do I think the asshole is guilty? Hell yes, I do! But I don’t think Clooney, DiCaprio, Damon, and every other man in Hollywood who couldn’t read the stone faces of women after it happened are guilty of keeping quiet.
In terms of Affleck and Damon… Rose McGowan says she told Affleck after she was attacked, as it happened at a film festival and they were both present, and he said, “Goddammit I told him to stop doing that” and then made her do a joint press conference. And then there’s the issue with Casey Affleck – seems fairly clear they knew that one. I’m not sure how those facts all go with ignorance. Affleck definitely wasn’t in the dark – according to McGowan, he even said he’d told Weinstein to stop (though he’s a gropey little shit himself, anyway – and that nanny was also on his payroll, however hungry she may have been). Was Damon? I doubt it.
It also beggars belief that Weinstein was being discussed, by name, on this site years ago, yet Hollywood was oblivious. So many women say they talked to one another and it was an open secret.
I think it’s truer to say that all these men knew he was a serial sexual harasser, but they wrote that off as his being, “a dirty dog who liked to hit on young women” which was okay to them, instead of his being a rapist, which isn’t.
I can admit it, I was wrong about Clooney. And for anyone to say they didn’t know he was a sexual predator, who made millions working with him, is becoming more implausible by the minute. I can’t even keep up with the internet right now, of women coming forward. Cara Delevinge has a particularly interesting revelation that includes a director that left her to him, and a Weinstein assistant that was clearly an abettor. Wow. I can understand the legal ramifications of publically naming names at this point, but all these women need to get together, comprise a list of people who definitely knew, and do just that. I can give up movies and television, and it sounds like I’ll have to.
His saying the story is about the women? No! NO, actually it’s about men. The entire point is that these women had no say in what was happening. It’s a story about male power.
They help to create and fuel a culture that allows men to do this. Throwing it on the women is just making it about who was forced to do what. That’s not the f-ing problem here. It’s no better than parsing what women were wearing when attacked, or what they could have done to stop someone who, by definition, was not interested in what they wanted to happen.
They had no control here. Their choices are not the freaking problem. This really, in the most basic sense, is not about the women. It is all – ALL – about the men.
The focus needs to be on why and how this man, and so many others, were enabled. The focus needs to be on Weinstein and the systems around him that made it so easy. And it needs to be on how men can create a better, safer working environment in that industry.
He’s conflating men speaking for women, and not allowing men to voice their experiences, with spotlighting male abuse. That’s not okay. It’s the same way some white people expect the black community to solve racism. It’s the community with the power who need to do that – not the marginalised group.
There is no way that Ben Affleck didn’t know if heard directly from Rose McGowan AND he dated Gwyneth Paltrow and Brad Pitt definitely knew that it was more than “rumors” from both Gywneth AND Angelina Jolie and it seems highly unlikely that neither of them would’ve spoken with close friends Matt Damon and George Clooney about it at any time. It sounds like they just bought into the idea that he was too powerful or that he could damage them in retaliation. SO it’s a lie to say if they had known, they would’ve done something to stop it – because they DIDN’T and they ALL have privilege and power.
In other words, instead of trying to kill the story, he tried to gaslight all the women who had bad experiences with Fabrizio Lombardo by insisting he’s a good person and not a sleazy pimp. Why would he even feel qualified to comment when he had no personal knowledge of what happened? Oh, right! He’ Matt Damon, knower of all things.
Is Affleck’s head about to explode off his neck in that last photo?
I don’t know how old these guys were when their relationship with Miramax started. I think they were pretty young though. And stupid. Hell, Affleck is still pretty stupid. I don’t necessarily think it’s unreasonable to assume that men like Harvey also exert a powerful sway over young men as well. Obviously, (at least so far) there is a difference – but I’ve met people like Weinstein (not so famous but that type) and their almost(?) sociopathic manipulative charm is not limited to the women that happen to enter their sphere.
But they are older and I believe McGowan certainly when she says she told him about Weinstein and I don’t for a second believe that this information wasn’t passed onto Damon, if he already didn’t know.
Yeah if you can’t see half of the population as human beings until AFTER you have daughters, you are a giant DB. I’m glad I never liked this guy but now he seriously enrages me. Go away, Matt.