Matt Damon slams claims he said gay actors should “stay in the closet”

Matt Damon slams claims he said gay actors should “stay in the closet”

MATT Damon has disputed claims that he had specifically said gay actors should remain in the closet by saying his comments about the risks of being open about your sexuality in Hollywood, both straight or gay, were taken out of context.

The actor, who was rumoured to be gay when he was thrust into the spotlight when he and Ben Affleck starred and co-wrote Good Will Hunting in 1997, refused to deny the rumours because he did not want to offend his gay friends.

 In 2012, he told Playboy magazine that denying it would be “as if being gay were some kind of f**king disease… the whole thing was just gross”.

Recently in an interview with The Guardian, Damon said he thought “it must be really hard for actors to be out publicly”.

“I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you, period,” he said in the interview.

“And sexuality is a huge part of that. Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.”

The quote above has led to suggestions that Damon said gay actors should stay in the closet so it did not interfere with a successful acting career, subsequently causing a stir on social media with commentary slamming his opinion.

However, speaking with Ellen DeGeneres on her show, Damon addressed The Guardian article (scroll down for full video) by saying his quotes were taken out of context and that he only referenced gay actors because of the Ben Affleck rumours and his role in Behind the Candelabra.

“It’s stupid… it’s painful when things get turned into things that you don’t believe,” he said.

“In the blogosphere there is no real penalty for taking the ball and running with it.”

The actor, who is married with four children, leads a private life. A self-confessed family man, he described his life as so average even the paparazzi have decamped from outside his home in Los Angeles because he never does anything that merits a photograph.

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One response to “Matt Damon slams claims he said gay actors should “stay in the closet””

  1. Does he really believe what he said? There is not a chance in Hell that he was “taken out of context”. We heard what he said and it was ‘live’. Scratch the surface of most straight people and underneath you will find the bigot. The only reason this now ageing actor is trying to retract his words is because he doesn’t want to lose all those gay men who still think he is some sort of a hunk.