Matt Damon clarifies he never used 'F-slur' following controversial comments

Matt Damon. Pic/AFP

Hollywood star Matt Damon recently clarified the controversial remarks he made about "retiring" his use of the homophobic 'F-slur'. In a statement obtained by People magazine on Monday, the 'Ford v Ferrari' actor insisted that "I have never called anyone 'f--t' in my personal life," and that "I do not use slurs of any kind."

Just over the weekend, Damon's interview with the UK's Sunday Times caused a stir when he revealed that he was recently given a lesson by one of his daughters about why using the "f-word for homosexuals" is "dangerous."

He told the outlet that he had "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!' " Damon said in the interview. "She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. And I said, 'I retire the f-slur!' I understood," he added.

The actor didn't reveal which daughter he had the conversation with. The star shares daughters Stella, Gia, Isabella, and Alexia with wife Luciana Barroso. But in his statement on Monday, he said, "this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening."

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He went on to detail the conversation he said he had with his daughter. "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," the actor said.

"I explained that that word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine [Stuck on You!] as recently as 2003. She in turn expressed incredulity that there could ever have been a time where that word was used unthinkingly," he added.

Damon said he was proud of his daughter. "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," Damon said. "I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice."

He ended his statement by explaining that he supports the LGBTQ community. "I have learned that eradicating prejudice requires active movement toward justice rather than finding passive comfort in imagining myself 'one of the good guys,' " Damon said. "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," the Academy Award winner added. Elsewhere on Monday, GLAAD's Head of Talent Anthony Allen Ramos also released a statement regarding Damon's comments.

"The conversations that have arisen after Matt Damon's original interview and subsequent remarks today are an important reminder that this word, or any word that aims to disparage and disrespect LGBTQ people, has no place in mainstream media, social media, classrooms, workplaces, and beyond," Ramos said.

"There needs to be accountability at a time when anti-LGBTQ slurs remain rampant today and can fuel discrimination and stereotypes, especially when used by those outside of the community to defame or describe LGBTQ people," Ramos added.

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