Matt Damon insists he never used homophobic slur after interview goes viral

Matt Damon issued a statement about an article that quoted him being called out by his daughter about the use of a homophobic slur. Photo / AP

Matt Damon is adamant he never used a derogatory term after an anecdote he shared about his daughter in an interview went viral.

Damon caused a stir when he was quoted saying he stopped using the "f-slur" after his daughter taught him "how that word is dangerous".

"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 explained in an interview with The Sunday Times.

"I 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!'," the actor added.

Now the actor has issued a statement clarifying what he was quoted saying.

The statement supplied to Variety read: "During a recent interview, I recalled a discussion I had with my daughter where I attempted to contextualise 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 '***' used on the street before I knew what it even referred to," he explained.

"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; she in turn 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 normalised it was. I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice.

"I have never called anyone 'f*****' in my personal life and this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening. I do not use slurs of any kind," he insisted.

"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. To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community."

Elsewhere in The Sunday Times interview, Damon was honest about the changing face of masculinity and the #MeToo movement.

He reflected on his statement he shared when the 2017 allegations about disgraced Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein first emerged.

At the time he said: "As the father of four daughters, this is the kind of sexual predation that keeps me up at night."

However many criticised the actor at the time, pointing out his role as a father shouldn't be the only reason he came forward.

Now he said he understands why his comment was met with anger.

"It's a fair point. Anybody should be offended by that behaviour."