Matt Damon is setting the record straight about his use of the "f-slur for a homosexual."
On Sunday, Aug. 1, the Stillwater actor shocked his fans and fellow Hollywood colleagues after he told The Sunday Times about how he recently retired the use of a derogatory term commonly aimed at members of the LGBTQ+ community.
The 50-year-old star recalled uttering the offensive term "months ago" while making a joke in front of his children. But one of his four daughters, whom he didn't specifically name, wrote him a treatise about "how that word is dangerous" to use.
After becoming a hot topic, Matt addressed his controversial comments head-on.
"During a recent interview," he began his statement to E! News on Monday, Aug. 2. "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-g' used on the street before I knew what it even referred to."
Matt continued, "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."
Despite his efforts to illustrate how the term was stated, the Good Will Hunting actor said his daughter "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," Matt shared. "I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice."
The award-winning actor made it clear that he's "never called anyone 'f----t' in my personal life." Moreover, he clarified that "this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening."
"I do not use slurs of any kind," he explained. "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."
He added, "To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community."
In The Sunday Times interview, Matt spoke about the differences between his generation compared to Gen Z and other age groups.
"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 told the newspaper. "I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter. She left the table."
Initially, he defended himself: "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," he explained. "I said, 'I retire the f-slur!' I understood."
Matt's comments spread like wildfire, with celebrities such as Billy Eichner, Dear White People's showrunner Jaclyn Moore and many others weighing in on the controversy.