Matt Damon has insisted he does not use a homophobic slur in his "personal life" following backlash to an interview in which he said he only "retired" the term "months ago".
In an interview with The Sunday Times, the 50-year-old Hollywood star revealed that he recently stopped using the offensive word for gay people after angering his daughter.
He said: "The word that my daughter calls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application. I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter. She left the table. I said, ‘Come on, that’s a joke! I say it in the movie Stuck on You!
"She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, ‘I retire the f-slur!’ I understood."
After his remarks were widely criticised on social media and by LGBTQ+ activists, the Oscar-winning actor said he has never used the slur in his "personal life" while admitting he understood why the interview "led many to assume the worst."
In a lengthy statement to Variety, Damon said: "During a recent interview, I recalled a discussion I had with my daughter where I attempted to contextualize for her the progress that has been made – though by no means completed – since I was growing up in Boston and, as a child, heard the word 'f**' used on the street before I knew what it even referred to.
"I explained that that word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine as recently as 2003; she, in turn, expressed incredulity that there could ever have been a time where that word was used unthinkingly. To my admiration and pride, she was extremely articulate about the extent to which that word would have been painful to someone in the LGBTQ+ community regardless of how culturally normalized it was. I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice.
"I have never called anyone 'f*****' in my personal life and this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening. I do not use slurs of any kind. I have learned that eradicating prejudice requires active movement toward justice rather than finding passive comfort in imagining myself 'one of the good guys'. And given that open hostility against the LGBTQ+ community is still not uncommon, I understand why my statement led many to assume the worst. To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community."
Oscar-winning comedian, actor and director Travon Free was among those criticising Damon's interview comments, saying in a tweet: "So Matt Damon just figured out 'months ago', by way of a ‘treatise’ from a child, that he’s not supposed to say the word f*****. Months ago. Months ago."
Comedian and actor Billy Eichner tweeted: "I want to know what word Matt Damon has replaced f***** with."
Comedy writer James Felton responded: "Worst take I've seen on Matt Damon is that we shouldn't use "holier than thou judgement of people's past using today's context and worldview". My apologies. People from a few months ago should not be judged by today's standards. They just didn't know any better back in June."
Worst take I've seen on Matt Damon is that we shouldn't use "holier than thou judgement of people's past using today's context and worldview". My apologies. People from a few months ago should not be judged by today's standards. They just didn't know any better back in June.
— James Felton (@JimMFelton) August 2, 2021
Damon faced a similar outcry in 2017 when making comments about the wave of sexual abuse allegations in Hollywood after he said that not all men who have been accused of misconduct should be tarred with the same brush.
He followed up with more comments that were widely criticised for being "tone deaf" when he said that men who are not sexual predators are not being talked about enough.
The actor later apologised for the remarks, saying: "I really wish I'd listened a lot more before I weighed in on this."
