Having been in a cultural coma for the past 20 years, Matt Damon just learned that he shouldn’t be using the f-word because it’s offensive to gay people. The f-word, in this case, was most likely not “FAAAAABULOUS!”
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Damon voluntarily described how he was sitting at the table nonchalantly throwing around the f-slur as part of a joke. This was not so woke.
“I said, ‘Come on, that’s a joke! I say it in the movie “Stuck on You!”’” Damon continued, referencing the much-derided 2003 film — yes, a movie that came out nearly 20 years ago. “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.”
Considering how progressive Matt Damon seems, it’s surprising that in his 50 years on Earth, his kids had to just explain this to him in 2021. So, if you want to know how big of a bubble some celebrities are in, here’s a good example.
Damon then went on with his old man moment by saying things are always being taken out of context these days.
“Twenty years ago, the best way I can put it is that the journalist listened to the music more than the lyrics [of an interview]. Now your lyrics are getting parsed, to pull them out of context and get the best headline possible.”
“Before it didn’t really matter what I said, because it didn’t make the news,” he continued. But maybe this shift is a good thing. So I shut the f**k up more.”
It’s true that context is important. But, it’s also true that 99% of the time, context doesn’t help or makes it way worse.