Matt Damon says cancel culture can 'follow you to the grave'

Movieweb reports that Matt Damon, appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience, argued that people who face cancel culture can suffer public rejection that will "follow you to the grave" while discussing his decade-long career and his latest project, the Netflix action thriller The Rip.

On the podcast, Damon said, "I bet some of those people would have preferred to go to jail for 18 months or whatever, and then come out and say, 'I paid my debt. Like, we're done. Like, can we be done?'" The outlet notes he has not been formally canceled but has faced controversy before: in 2021 he was reported to have said he had "retired" a slur from his vocabulary after a conversation with his daughter and later issued an apology. In that statement he wrote, "I have never called anyone 'f---t' in my personal life and this conversation with my daughter was not a personal awakening. I do not use slurs of any kind," and added, "I stand with the LGBTQ+ community."

Damon's comments on Rogan reiterate his stance on the lasting effects of public excoriation; he has not been formally canceled and it is not reported that the recent remarks have led to new formal consequences. The remarks came during a promotional appearance for The Rip.

Key Topics

Culture, Matt Damon, Joe Rogan, Cancel Culture, The Rip, Netflix