Minnie Driver Calls Out Matt Damon Over “Utterly Tone Deaf” Comments on Sexual Misconduct
Minnie Driver had plenty to say about her Good Will Hunting co-star Matt Damon’s problematic comments regarding the post-Weinstein sexual misconduct reckoning in Hollywood. While sitting down with film critic Peter Travers for an ABC News interview to promoting his new movie Downsizing, Damon took it upon himself to explain an arbitrary hierarchy regarding how upset people should reasonably get over specific acts of abuse.
“I think we’re in this watershed moment. I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories, and it’s totally necessary,” Damon said. “I do believe that there’s a spectrum of behavior, 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, right?”
Driver took issue with this breakdown on Twitter before bypassing the 280-character limit and elaborating on her criticisms to the Guardian.
God God, SERIOUSLY? https://t.co/NDZFrLDXil
— Minnie Driver (@driverminnie) December 15, 2017
Gosh it’s so *interesting 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( *profoundly unsurprising)
— Minnie Driver (@driverminnie) December 15, 2017
“I felt I desperately needed to say something. I’ve realised that most men, good men, the men that I love, there is a cut-off in their ability to understand,” Driver told the Guardian. “They simply cannot understand what abuse is like on a daily level.”
Driver said she took offense to a man dictating to women how they are supposed to feel about enduring unwanted sexual behavior.
“I honestly think that until we get on the same page, you can’t tell a woman about their abuse,” Driver said. “A man cannot do that. No one can. It is so individual and so personal, it’s galling when a powerful man steps up and starts dictating the terms, whether he intends it or not.”
Damon has a demonstrated history of explaining women’s own experiences to them. In 2015, a clip of Damon explaining diversity in casting to and essentially talking over producer Effie Brown, a woman of color, from his show Project Greenlight sparked a backlash.
Driver’s message is essentially that people who have (presumably) not endured sexual harassment or assault should perhaps shut up and listen to the people speaking out about their own experiences. It’s not bad advice for her one-time boyfriend Damon, or anyone else.
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