Matt Damon Insists He 'Never' Used 'F-Slur' After Backlash

Matt Damon is attempting to clarify recent comments he made regarding the "f-slur" during an interview, issuing a new statement to Variety addressing the situation. In the original interview, published by the Sunday Times, Damon had said that he "retired" using the homophobic slur "months ago" after a conversation with his daughter.

His new statement began, "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."

Damon continued by praising his daughter, sharing that "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."

The 50-year-old added that has "never called anyone 'f—' in my personal life" and that his conversation with his daughter "was not a personal awakening." "I do not use slurs of any kind," he said. "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."

In the Times article, Damon said that he stopped using the word after his daughter wrote him a "very long, beautiful treatise." "The word that my daughter calls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application," he said. "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."