Matt Damon has acknowledged that the ongoing culture wars have taught him to “shut the fuck up more.” As part of his newfound silence, he’ll be “retiring” the “F-slur” from his lexicon.
In a recent interview with The Sunday Times, promoting his new film Stillwater, Matt Damon admitted he stopped using the outdated slur after one of his four daughters called him out over it during dinner.
“The word that my daughter calls the ‘f-slur for a homosexual’ was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application,” Damon said.
“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!’ She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, ‘I retire the f-slur!’ I understood.”
I empathize with Damon’s daughter — it’s a tale as old as time. We’ve all been in a very public setting with one of our parents, only for them to drop an achingly problematic line. There’s no other option but to give the person that brought you into this world a sharp elbow jab to the ribs and command “you can’t say that anymore.” Should the court of law be overrun by blue-haired teens from TikTok, mum and dad would be heading straight to the gallows.
Elsewhere in the interview, Damon opined on the changing media landscape. Noting that in the current climate, an off-colour comment can make a headline. “20 years ago, the best way I can put it is that the journalist listened to the music more than the lyrics,” he said. “Now your lyrics are getting parsed, to pull them out of context and get the best headline possible. Everyone needs clicks.”
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