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Matt Damon Played a Belligerent Brett Kavanaugh on *SNL*'s 44th Season Premiere


Saturday Night Live‘s 44th season premiered last night, and the show went in hard with its commentary on this week’s Kavanaugh hearings—starting right from the beginning.

For its cold open, the show tapped Matt Damon, a man who has found his foot in his mouth for his comments about #MeToo, to portray Judge Brett Kavanaugh during his hearing in front of the confirmation committee. His parody of the Supreme Court nominee was nothing short of spot on—but that doesn’t mean it didn’t also make us cringe.

“I’m gonna start at an 11, and I’m gonna take it to a 15,” Damon-as-Kavanaugh begins—then spends the next 13 minutes sniffing incessantly, aggressively turning the pages of his notes, and talking about his friends “PJ,” “Tobin,” and “Squi.” There’s also the tearful submission of his “beautiful, creepy calendars” into evidence, and a whole lot of references to his love of ‘skis. “

“I was the proudest, drunkest virgin you’ve ever seen,” he boasted at one point.

“I’m usually an optimist, I’m a keg-is-half-full kind of guy,” Damon-as-Kavanaugh continued. “But what I’ve seen from the monsters on this committee has made me want to puke, and not from beer.”

Senators Hatch, Grassle, Feinstein, Klobuchar and Graham all make their own appearances as played by SNL cast members, as does “female prosecutor” Rachel Mitchell (Aidy Bryant), who is “only there for Twitter”—and for Senator Hatch to hide behind “like a human shield.” Alyssa Milano shows up, too, in the form of a cardboard cut-out who’s really good at “finding her lens.”

Some of it brought a smile after a long week of news, but some of it hit a little close to home. At one point Damon exclaims, “I’m not backing down you, sons of bitches; I don’t know the meaning of the word ‘stop.'”

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The cold open was just the beginning of SNL‘s all-in approach to the Kavanaugh hearings. The show’s “Weekend Update” segment began with a series of clips that showed Judge Kavanaugh talking about how much he liked beer and working out while he was in high school. After it played, co-anchor Colin Jost commented, “I’ve gotta say, you’re not really helping yourself in a drunken assault case when you yell about how much you like drinking and how strong you were at the time.”

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In a later clip, Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsberg (Kate McKinnon) shows up to comment on the hearings. “He thinks his confirmation hearing was unfair?” she asks, “My confirmation hearing was they threw me in a river to see if I float. And I did! I floated on top like a little waterbug!”

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There was also a pretty unsettling sketch about an alcohol and drug-fueled college party in the ’80s. Although it made no direct reference to Kavanaugh, it alluded to some of the themes of assault and youth party culture that have been at the forefront of conversations surrounding his hearing this week.

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Things got even weirder during the show, but safe to say this is a premiere we won’t be forgetting anytime soon.

Related: 16 Times Women Changed the Game on Saturday Night Live



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Matt Damon Is Finally Apologizing For His Comments Around #MeToo


A number of men in Hollywood have struggled with how to address the current culture of #MeToo and Time’s Up. There was that time when none of the male winners at the Golden Globes brought up the subject. And then there was Matt Damon‘s press tour for “Downsizing”, where the actor found himself in the headlines day after day but not for the reasons he was probably hoping for. Instead, in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal and the downfall of other prominent men, the actor found himself with his foot in his mouth on the regular. He often started out supportive and then veered into problematic territory with comments like:

And we live in this culture of outrage and injury, and, you know, that
we’re going to have to correct enough to kind of go, ‘Wait a minute.
None of us came here perfect.’ You know what I mean?… The Louis C.K.
thing, I don’t know all the details. I don’t do deep dives on this,but
I did see his statement, which kind of, which [was] arresting to me.
When he came out and said, “I did this. I did these things. These
women are all telling the truth.” And I just remember thinking, ‘Well,
that’s the sign of somebody who—well, we can work with that’…”

That was…not a great look. Even his ex-girlfriend, Minnie Driver, called him out saying, “I honestly think that until we get on the same page, you can’t tell a woman about their abuse. A man cannot do that. No one can. It is so individual and so personal, it’s galling when a powerful man steps up and starts dictating the terms, whether he intends it or not.” Alyssa Milano also had words for Damon.

This morning, Damon appeared on Today to promote his charity Water.org (a very worthy organization that is all about supplying safe drinking water to those without access to it) when co-host Kathie Lee Gifford asked him about his recent comments. It seems that Damon has finally taken the public (and likely a fair amount of private) criticism to heart and seen the error of his ways in speaking before listening. He apologized for his previous statements saying, “I really wish I’d listened a lot more before I weighed in on this.” He went on to voice support for Time’s Up: “A lot of those women are my dear friends and I love them and respect them and support what they’re doing and want to be a part of that change and want to go along for the ride, but I should get in the back seat and close my mouth for a while.”

We think that’s probably best—but we’re very glad to see it acknowledged.

Watch Damon’s full interview below:

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Minnie Driver Slams Ex-Boyfriend Matt Damon Over Sexual Harassment Comment


Over the past week or so, Matt Damon has been on the press circuit promoting his new movie Downsizing, which actually looks pretty interesting. But I haven’t been able to think much about that because I’ve been too busy feeling annoyed every time he opens his mouth to speak about sexual harassment in Hollywood.

First let me just say that, generally speaking, Matt Damon seems like a pretty nice guy. But a lot of nice guys have some pretty terrible opinions when it comes to women’s issues, and he might just be one of them. Obviously, Damon’s big break (Good Will Hunting) came via Harvey Weinstein and Miramax, but that shouldn’t necessarily be held against him. I still love that movie deeply and have the Elliot Smith–laden soundtrack in heavy rotation. However, my favorable opinions of the actor are quickly taking a turn. And his ex-girlfriend Minnie Driver—who famously found out they were broken up via an interview on Oprah—agrees, as she took to Twitter to express her distaste for a recent interview the actor did with ABC News.

The main quote in question starts out fine and then veers into problematic territory. Damon said:

“I think we’re in this watershed moment. I think it’s great. I think
it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their
stories, and it’s totally necessary…. I do believe that there’s a spectrum
of behavior, right? And we’re going to have to figure—you know,
there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt
and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need
to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they
shouldn’t be conflated, right? You know, we see somebody like
Al Franken, right?—I personally would have preferred if they
had an Ethics Committee investigation, you know what I
mean? It’s like at what point—you know, we’re so energized
to kind of get retribution, I think.

“And we live in this culture of outrage and injury, and, you know,
that we’re going to have to correct enough to kind of go, ‘Wait
a minute. None of us came here perfect.’ You know what I
mean?… The Louis C.K. thing, I don’t know all the details.
I don’t do deep dives on this,but I did see his statement, which
kind of, which [was] arresting to me. When he came out and
said, “I did this. I did these things. These women are all telling
the truth.” And I just remember thinking, ‘Well, that’s the sign
of somebody who—well, we can work with that’…”

Please, just stop. Don’t tell women that we need to self-correct our outrage when we’ve been the ones dealing with moments of harassment—both big and small—for all these years. Driver expressed exasperation over Damon’s initial comments and then further clarified her comments to the Guardian, saying, “I felt I desperately needed to say something. I’ve realised that most men, good men, the men that I love, there is a cutoff in their ability to understand. They simply cannot understand what abuse is like on a daily level. I honestly think that until we get on the same page, you can’t tell a woman about their abuse. A man cannot do that. No one can. It is so individual and so personal, it’s galling when a powerful man steps up and starts dictating the terms, whether he intends it or not.”

Alyssa Milano had some thoughts too.

But it wasn’t just one quote that has Damon in hot water. He has also said of a hypothetical colleague, “If it’s a colleague…I don’t know…I guess it depends on the situation and the allegation and how believable I think it is.” And of Harvey Weinstein: “I knew I wouldn’t want him married to anyone close to me. But that was the extent of what we knew, you know? And that wasn’t a surprise to anybody. So when you hear ‘Harvey this, Harvey that’—I mean, look at the guy. Of course he’s a womanizer…. I mean, I don’t hang out with him.”

Until Matt Damon figures out how to speak more thoughtfully about the issue, maybe it would be best if he just said nothing at all.





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Alyssa Milano Had to Explain How Rape Culture Works to Matt Damon


Once upon a time last week, actor Matt Damon made a couple of remarks about the Weinstein scandal—and the other once-powerful men who also have fallen due to sexual misconduct allegations in Weinstein’s wake. What he said in that interview with ABC News didn’t go over well: The Internet dragged him for tone-deaf comments about Hollywood’s casting couch problem and attempting to draw lines between various degrees of misconduct, seemingly in a way that suggested one should be considered more excusable than others. (Hint: None of them are excusable.) Luckily, Alyssa Milano was on hand on Twitter to give him a lesson in what exactly rape culture is and why his comments were off the mark.

He started off OK: “I think we’re in this watershed moment. I think it’s great. I think it’s wonderful that women are feeling empowered to tell their stories, and it’s totally necessary …”

Three sentences after he opened his mouth, though, it all went careening downhill: “I do believe that there’s a spectrum of behavior, right? And we’re going to have to figure—you know, there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right? You know, we see somebody like Al Franken, right? I personally would have preferred if they had an Ethics Committee investigation, you know what I mean? It’s like at what point—you know, we’re so energized to kind of get retribution, I think.”

Well, yes. After living under patriarchal oppression for the better part of the last forever and having our bodies continually treated as commodities, there is a certain energy about finally being able to speak up about it—and actually be heard.

“And we live in this culture of outrage and injury, and, you know, that we’re going to have to correct enough to kind of go, ‘Wait a minute. None of us came here perfect,'” Damon continued. “You know what I mean? … The Louis C.K. thing, I don’t know all the details. I don’t do deep dives on this, but I did see his statement, which kind of, which [was] arresting to me. When he came out and said, ‘I did this. I did these things. These women are all telling the truth.’ And I just remember thinking, ‘Well, that’s the sign of somebody who — well, we can work with that’ … Like, when I’m raising my kids, this constant personal responsibility is as important as anything else they learn before they go off in the world.

And the fear for me is that right now, we’re in this moment where at the moment — and I hope it doesn’t stay this way — the clearer signal to men and to younger people is, deny it. Because if you take responsibility for what you did, your life’s going to get ruined.”

Later, by the way, Damon goes on to give a hypothetical example of what would happen if someone falsely (he makes sure to specify this) accused him of sexual harassment. His plans? Lawyer up, and get a settlement on the table.

“I mean, look, as I said, all of that behavior needs to be confronted, but there is a continuum,” Damon continues. “And on this end of the continuum where you have rape and child molestation or whatever, you know, that’s prison. Right? And that’s what needs to happen. OK? And then we can talk about rehabilitation and everything else. That’s criminal behavior, and it needs to be dealt with that way. The other stuff is just kind of shameful and gross.”

What Damon leaves out, obviously, is the “shameful and gross” things he’s referring to have the demonstrated potential to destroy women’s careers. Women don’t escape unscathed from the actions of these men, whether they are attacked or manage to fend off the harassment and assault. Damon putting them on a scale completely negates and ignores the damaging, lasting, and real fallout women experience.

Milano, who has been vocal in the #MeToo movement, called him out in a series of tweets that explained how rape culture works. It was an act of emotional and mental labor that was undoubtedly draining but definitely necessary.

“Dear Matt Damon,” she wrote. “It’s the micro that makes the macro. We are in a ‘culture of outrage’ because the magnitude of rage is, in fact, overtly outrageous. And it is righteous. I have been a victim of each component of the sexual assault spectrum of which you speak. They all hurt. And they are all connected to a patriarchy intertwined with normalized, accepted–even welcomed– misogyny.

We are not outraged because someone grabbed our asses in a picture. We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal. We are outraged because we have been gaslighted. We are outraged because we were silenced for so long.

There are different stages of cancer. Some more treatable than others. But it’s still cancer. Sexual harassment, misconduct, assault and violence is a systemic disease. The tumor is being cut out right now with no anesthesia. Please send flowers. #MeToo”

Of course, it would be really nice if it were a woman—such as say, Milano—doing the highly visible interview with ABC News as a leader in the #MeToo movement, rather than another male Hollywood figure. Instead, Milano, a victim of sexual misconduct herself, had to do mental and emotional labor to correct Damon’s problematic thoughts. Exhausting.

Related Stories:
–MeToo: Thousands of Women Share Stories of Sexual Harassment and Assault on Twitter
–Post-Weinstein, These Are the Powerful Men Facing Sexual Harassment Allegations





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