LGBT News Actor Matt Damon: Gay Actors Should Stay in the Closet

Closet case alert.

 

Oh Damon, you really, desperately need a PR manager. You just can't help shoving your foot down your throat all the time.

I love you in movies, but, please, why don't you heed your own "advice" and shut the fuck up. About everything. For your sake.

 

I intended to post the article about his ignorant comments on representation of racial minorities.

Truthfully, it is not even about the content of the comments that he makes rather the fact that his ego has convinced himself that he has a right to speak on these thing from his position. He believes that because he has been so successful as a cis-straight white male that he is enlightening the people the people. In his alleged apology, which can't even truly be called an apology, for shutting down the Black female filmmaker just recently he literally says that the important thing is that his comments started the conversation of race in media. A person of color would receive flack for saying half the things that he does because they are so egotistical and self-serving.

Have discussions with members of marginalized groups and form your opinions that way or stay in your lane in life and focus on your career. Stop trying to bless the world with your advice on how minorities should deal with inequality and oppression.

 

It seems to me that Matt Damon is to gays what Mel Gibson is to Jews. Possible long lost relatives? You make the call!

 

It's a shame. I was pretty excited about the new movie The Martian.

 

Hmmm. I don't think he's so much homophobic as he is ignorant. A good education upon the topic should clear up his mind, but I do disagree with him. The only way to stop discrimination against gays is to normalize it, and actors coming out would help with that situation.

 

He's free to have his own opinion, even if it is wrong in many people's eyes.

 

I wonder how he feels about two cute lesbian women. I assume that makes him aroused. What an ignorant asshole though.. Why doesn't he keep his opinions a mystery? Save part of the world a huge face palm!

 

His movies suck - except his puppet alter-ego in Team America.

 

*sighs* It's such a shame, I quite liked the Bourne Identity.

 

This has rather dampen my enthusiasm for The Martian. Although it doesn't seem like he is hostile about it, just being out of touch and ignorant.

 

Some of you guys are being harsh. I think he just means that actors shouldn't be as public with their sexuality, or with their personal life in general so as to bleed all that away more easily as a character in a movie. The statement is flawed and poorly worded but it doesnt sound inherently homophobic. Everyone is going to read it literally and instantly blame it on racism and sexism and transphobia like always though

 

1. I don't think he meant it in a negative way. Technically, he's right, the more they know about you the worse, the best actors keep their private life completely private whether they're straight or gay.

2. He's really bad with words, perhaps even worse than me. He should really keep his answers to himself.

 

The judgmental attitudes in this thread are seriously disappointing. Someone took a somewhat ambiguous statement that he made and twisted it into "Gay Actors Should Stay in the Closet". He didn't actually say that. I think what Damon meant was that an actor's private life (his sexual life, in particular) should remain private from the audience. Because if the audience views a film with preconceptions about who an actor is in real life, then that gets conflated with the character that the actor is attempting to portray in the film, and it detracts from the experience. It's sad that some people are so quick to vilify others.

 

Sexuality isn't a private matter. You don't tell heterosexuals to keep it private.

 

If somebody wants to discuss their sexuality or beliefs, and they're an actor, go ahead. But there are risks to it. Sometimes it won't matter, but for the times it does, well, it's pretty self explanatory.

However, people should be able to talk about their families and loved ones, if they so wish. That's just common fuckin' courtesy.

Blah, blah, blah... double standards... Steve Urkel... blah, blah, blah​

Spoiler

I do agree, in theory, with the idea that actors, the more mysterious they are, benefit from it, especially in the beginning and after a major role. They aren't grounded to a notion or acceptable spectrum of roles. This is why, for a while, Johnny Depp could do anything. Most of us have probably heard of 'type casting', this is that in a different way; as opposed to it being a portrayal it's personal.

To take one of the biggest examples I know: Jaleel White, who played Steve Urkel on Family Matters. After that show, it was very hard for him to find work. He was known as Steve Urkel and he would be known as Steve Urkel for a long time. While time has passed and younger kids have grown older, not many may know that, he has since sunk into semi-obscurity, and I doubt he'll ever skyrocket into Hollywood glory. The same thing happened with a few actors who were on Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers, not very many could/would take them seriously on anything else.

The difference with this though is, if you're gay, yeah, okay, some folks may boycott you or dislike you just for being gay. That happens. You may also have individuals who find it hard to believe your role if, say, you're gay and playing a straight character. And studios hate when a film of theirs is not perceived or acknowledged as they intended, especially a drama/serious one. Basically, if you're gay, you can only play gay-related roles or be in gay-related movies. Not everybody thinks like this, but enough do that it's a problem.

That said, it is amusing to me how some folks seem to forget what an actor does, they play roles. I doubt Danny Glover kills Predators in real life, or Emma Watson flings magic, but it's different when you're not straight. If you're heterosexual, you can do about anything. You're just an actor.

But somebody being something as normal as a sexuality, dear God, it's just breaking the fourth wall~!

 

This. This is what I was preparing to say, but you said it in a much more lighthearted tone and for that I thank you.

Spoiler Alert: None of what you see in movies is real (an imitation of reality at best). They are actors. They act out roles. It's their job to make a convincing representation of who they are pretending to be. If you can't possibly achieve that for the majority of the audience, you suck at acting. You know that meme "You had one job" ? Well this is your one and only job. You don't a get a pass on being a shitty actor because we know your background. If you are doing your job right, it won't matter. Like it never matters when straight actors play gay characters. Or when gay people all over the world play a straight character every day of their lives. We call them closet cases, and a lot of them seem to be doing a pretty great job of pretending to be someone they are not (and I bet most of them aren't even professional actors).

Lol "vilify." Did you actually read the thread? Could you please point out to me the specific quotes in which someone here "vilified" him? Because from what I can read (and I did read them) everyone here has specifically called him out on his ignorance. But go on, I'll wait for the quotes.