Celebs Who Can't Stand Matt Damon
Matt Damon is a rare gem in Hollywood. Despite being an A-lister, he's rarely at the center of controversies, and while he admittedly has a shady side, he has forged a reputation of being a stand-up guy. But of course, you can't please everybody in this industry — or any industry for that matter — so it's no shocker that Damon has rubbed some people the wrong way.
For the most part, though, celebrities have waxed poetic about how great a person he is. Emily Blunt, his co-star on "The Adjustment Bureau," told GQ, "It's almost sickening, actually. He's like the most universally loved person I've ever met." Director Steven Soderbergh chimed in, telling the outlet, "You could walk around town with a checkbook offering to pay people a million dollars to say something bad about Matt, feeling secure you'd never have to write a check." Even George Clooney had something good to say about Damon, although it's more about his physique rather than his personality. "He looks swell in a Speedo," he said. Fair enough, not everyone can rock tiny shorts!
But of course, there is still a subset of stars that can't bring themselves to jump into the Matt Damon fan club. With the exception of Jimmy Kimmel, whose mock feud with Damon is more of a running gag rather than genuine animosity, there are some folks who just can't stand him. Here's a look at some of those who refuse to drink the Damon Kool-Aid.
Morgan Freeman hates Matt Damon's ego
For Matt Damon, Morgan Freeman is practically a deity. He idolized Freeman so much that he once finagled a dinner with him just because he could — and also to fanboy the entire time. "I used to talk about him so much that, about 10 years ago, my previous assistant arranged for us to have dinner together," he shared with Parade. "It was a gift to me for Christmas. We didn't have a project to talk about or anything — it was more like a 'Make-A-Wish' dinner where I asked him questions about acting and he politely answered."
Fortunately for Damon, they got to work together on the Clint Eastwood film "Invictus" a decade later. Damon played Francois Pienaar, captain of the South African rugby team, while Freeman portrayed Nelson Mandela. It was a dream come true for Damon, but for Freeman? Not so much. "We don't get on all that good. He's got a big head, he thinks he's good-looking and all that, we didn't get on all that well at all as a matter of fact," Freeman joked on the red carpet premiere for the film, per The Independent.
Of course, it could have all been a joke. But you know what they say about jokes? Sometimes, there's a bit of truth in them.
Christian Bale reportedly thought Matt Damon was unprofessional on set
Matt Damon and Christian Bale teamed up for the 2019 film "Ford v Ferrari," with Damon playing automotive designer Carroll Shelby and Bale taking on the role of race car driver Ken Miles. At one point in the film, their characters had to throw down in a fistfight, and according to the duo, it was one of the most exciting scenes to film. "It was actually fun to do a fight for once where you could learn the choreography in 15 minutes," Damon told ET. "[This was] just two completely useless middle-aged guys in a fight where they don't actually want to hurt each other." But Bale, ever the method actor, joked, "I was actually really trying to hurt you. I'm just that ineffective."
But was it all just a harmless jest? According to an insider, it wasn't all fun and games for Bale, who thought Damon was too goofy and unprofessional. "Christian took on his role very differently to Matt and thinks he did a better job," a source told Globe magazine (via Gossip Cop). "It was a miracle they didn't end up punching each other out." What's more, Damon knew how to push buttons, reportedly teasing Bale about his best bud Ben Affleck taking over the Batman role. "Matt always brought up the Batman beef and made fun of him," they dished.
Despite the buddy-buddy act for the cameras, the insider revealed they're not exactly besties off-screen. "They were never going to become pals, and Christian didn't care for any goofing around on set. He was always incredibly focused," they said.
Minnie Driver hated how Matt Damon broke her heart on live television
Minnie Driver and Matt Damon weren't just on-screen lovers on "Good Will Hunting," they were also an item in real life once upon a time. While Damon's relationship with his wife, Luciana Barroso, is now the picture of marital bliss, he was quite the heartbreaker back in the day, according to Driver.
Driver and Damon dated for a little over a year in the late 1990s, with the two becoming a Hollywood It Couple at one point. But it all came to an end in 1998 when Damon practically broke up with her in the worst way possible — on TV, just a month after he declared his love for her, also on TV. In a guest appearance on "Oprah," he told the host that he was single, effectively blindsiding Driver. "It's unfortunate that Matt went on 'Oprah'; it seemed like a good forum for him to announce to the world that we were no longer together, which I found fantastically inappropriate," she told The Los Angeles Times. "Of course, he was busy declaring his love for me on David Letterman a month previously."
The two unfortunately did not end up becoming friends, and their relationship soured even more when Damon made controversial comments about the Harvey Weinstein case on ABC News, suggesting that there's a "spectrum of behavior" in sexual misconduct. Driver didn't hold back, calling him out on X, formerly Twitter. "God [sic] God, SERIOUSLY?" she exclaimed, adding that her ex was "utterly tone deaf and as a result, systemically part of the problem."
Curt Schilling mocked Matt for not supporting for Donald Trump
Former MLB star Curt Schilling has a bone to pick with Matt Damon, though their beef is decidedly one-sided. In an interview with TMZ, the retired athlete, who's a proud and clear supporter of Donald Trump, blasted Damon not only for his disdain for the former president but also for his advocacy of gun control reform.
"Matt Damon, his entire life is made out of gun violence, yet he wants to repeal the 2nd Amendment," Schilling said. "Stop with that bull****. You guys lost. Go away!" He's likely referring to Damon's comments praising Australia's strict gun laws. "You guys did it here in one fell swoop and I wish that could happen in my country, but it's such a personal issue for people that we cannot talk about it sensibly. We just can't," Damon told The Sydney Morning Herald. "I wish we could be sensible like that but I don't think that's going to happen in my lifetime."
As for his view on Trump, Damon isn't the biggest fan of him, either. "There's no way we can let this guy be the [president]," the actor told ABC News in 2015. "To let that dude have the nuclear football, are you kidding me? That's dangerous. He's impulsive and rash, and doesn't seem to think deeply about too many things."
Showrunner Jaclyn Moore called him out for admitting to saying the F-slur
In 2021, Matt Damon found himself in hot water for admitting that he used to use the F-slur growing up in Boston. In an interview with The Sunday Times, he shared that one of his daughters had called him out for joking about using it in his younger years, although it was in a different context. "The word that my daughter calls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application," he said. "I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter."
Predictably, this didn't go over well. Industry figures were quick to criticize him, including Jaclyn Moore, showrunner of "Dear White People," who wrote in a since-deleted tweet: "Remember when the joke was that Ben Affleck was the dumb one and Matt Damon was the smart one?" she said (via E! News). "Because one is dating J-Lo and the other is spending the year of our lord Dolly Parton 2021 bragging about how he just stopped saying 'f*g.'"
In an attempt to contain the fallout, Damon issued a lengthy statement to Variety, claiming his comments were taken out of context and insisting he had never used the term to insult anyone, especially not a member of the LGBTQ+ community. "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," he said. "To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community."