Matt Damon Apologizes For Controversial Sexual Harassment Comments

The Downsizing star is changing his tune.

On Tuesday, Jan. 16, 2018, Matt Damon addressed the number of controversial statements he recently made about sexual harassment in Hollywood during an appearance on the Today show.

"I really wished I listened a lot more before I weighed in on this," the 47-year-old actor told host Kathie Lee Gifford, who replied that he was a good listener (via Entertainment Tonight). 

"No, well, not in this case," the Oscar winner, who was on the show to promote the clean water initiative Water.org, responded. "Ultimately,  what it is for me is that I don't want to further anybody's pain with anything that I do or say. So for that, I am really sorry."

While discussing the Time's Up movement, Damon added, "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."

As Nicki Swift previously reported, Damon came under fire in December 2017 when he chimed in on the ongoing sexual misconduct scandals that have rocked the entertainment industry since the Harvey Weinstein allegations broke in October. 

"You know, there's a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?" the Martian star said during his appearance on Popcorn With Peter Travers. "Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn't be conflated, right?"

The following week, Damon was called out again for giving his two cents on the matter. "We're in this watershed moment, and it's great, but I think one thing that's not being talked about is there are a whole s**tload of guys—the preponderance of men I've worked with—who don't do this kind of thing and whose lives aren't going to be affected," he told Business Insider. "If I have to sign a sexual-harassment thing, I don't care, I'll sign it. I would have signed it before. I don't do that, and most of the people I know don't do that."