Matt Damon says some public figures might rather serve prison time than endure what he describes as the seemingly unceasing consequences of being "canceled." Appearing with Ben Affleck on The Joe Rogan Experience to promote their Netflix film The Rip, Damon agreed with host Joe Rogan's description of cancel culture as a system in which a single remark or action can lead to permanent social exile, per Variety. "In perpetuity," Damon replied, adding that certain people likely "would have preferred to go to jail for 18 months" and emerge able to say, "I paid my debt ... can we be done?"
Instead, he said, public shaming "just never ends" and can trail someone "to the grave." The Daily Beast reports that Affleck also piped in, noting that "I don't think anybody wants to think ... you're the sum total of who you are [in] your worst moment." Damon himself became a flash point in 2021 after he mentioned in a Sunday Times interview that he'd only recently stopped using an anti-gay slur, following a conversation with his daughter, per Variety. Backlash online was swift. He later issued a detailed statement to the outlet saying he'd never used the word in his "personal life," didn't use slurs in general, and understood why his earlier remarks "led many to assume the worst."
Damon recounted explaining to his daughter how casually the word had been used when he was growing up, praising her for articulating how harmful it remains to LGBTQ+ people. In that statement, Damon said erasing prejudice requires "active movement toward justice" and declared that he "stand[s] with the LGBTQ+ community." The controversy didn't significantly derail his career: Damon went on to co-star in Air and Oppenheimer, and he's set to return to theaters in the lead role of Christopher Nolan's upcoming The Odyssey.
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