During a recent interview with ABC News, the actor spoke about the #MeToo movement, seemingly rating varying degrees of sexual misconduct.
“I do believe that there’s a spectrum of behaviour, right? And we’re going to have to figure — you know, there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation,” Damon said.
"Both of those behaviours need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn't be conflated, right?"
Damon went on to say that he thinks comedian Louis C.K, who was accused of sexual misconduct by five women, will be able to come back and eventually work again.
"I don't imagine he's going to do those things again," he said of C.K. "You know what I mean? I imagine the price that he's paid at this point is so beyond anything that he - I just think that we have to kind of start delineating between what these behaviours are."
Twitter was quick to shut down Damon's comments with Alyssa Milano taking it upon herself to explain rape culture to the Good Will Hunting actor.
"Dear Matt Damon, It's the micro that makes the macro," Milano began.
"We are in a “culture of outrage” because the magnitude of rage is, in fact, overtly outrageous. And it is righteous," she continued in the Twitter thread.
"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."
"We are not outraged because someone grabbed our asses in a picture. We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal. We are outraged because we have been gaslighted. We are outraged because we were silenced for so long."
"Sexual harassment, misconduct, assault and violence is a systemic disease. The tumor is being cut out right now with no anesthesia. Please send flowers. #MeToo," Milano finished.
Minnie Driver, Damon's ex and co-star on Good Will Hunting, also responded on Twitter: “Gosh it’s so interesting (profoundly unsurprising) how men with all these opinions about women’s differentiation between sexual misconduct, assault and rape reveal themselves to be utterly tone deaf and as a result, systemically part of the problem.”
