Matt Damon Under Fire After Arguing About Diversity With Black Producer

Published on September 15, 2015.

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Matt Damon has for a longtime been known as one of the most down-to-earth, intelligent and respected celebrities in Hollywood; however, a new video that is circulating is causing the actor to receive some serious backlash.

In the Season 4 premiere of his show Project Greenlight, which aired on September 13, the 44-year-old gets in an intense discussion about diversity with respected and notable producer Effie Brown. In Project Greenlight, Damon and Ben Affleck help up and coming movie makers with the making of their films and in the show. Brown began questioning a script where the only black person featured was a prostitute who gets beaten by a white man.

Brown told Damon and the crew that is important that the character does not fall into a racist stereotype and Damon’s response has caused many to fire back at him. Damon said, “When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show.” Not prioritizing diversity, as well as the fact he continues to talk over Brown, has a lot of people fired up, and Brown’s reaction also says a lot as she states, “Wow, okay.”

After seeing the video, one Twitter user wrote, “Matt Damon is…still a White man y’all. The struggle to NOT talk over a Black woman tends to be really strong for many of them.”

Check out the heated exchange below!