Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are defying the radically liberal world of Hollywood by blasting cancel culture. Indeed, the longtime friends believe that cancel culture has gotten far too extreme.
Affleck And Damon Torch Cancel Culture
Damon and Affleck tackled the concept of cancel culture while appearing on The Joe Rogan Experience on Friday.
“I bet some of those people would have preferred to go to jail for 18 months or whatever and then come out and say, ‘No, but I paid my debt. Like, we’re done, like, can we be done?’” Damon, 55, said of those who have been canceled. “Like, the thing about getting kind of excoriated publicly like that, it just never ends.”
Damon went on to say that once someone has been publicly called out for something, the public won’t let them forget it. Unfortunately, this mistake “will follow you to the grave.”
Affleck, 53, was quick to agree. He chimed in to say that that people “have dark, [expletive] up instincts to isolate people.” He added that folks “get joy out of” seeing someone else get in trouble. According to Affleck, this brings them joy because they aren’t the ones in trouble.
“Maybe because part of us is saying ‘it’s not me,’ So if you can point the finger, everyone’s looking over there. We feel safer, you know?” Affleck lamented.
“And to take any forgiveness out of it is a really [expletive] up thing, because then it makes it impossible to actually go, ‘All right, yeah, I did that… That was wrong. I get it,’ You know, because it doesn’t matter,” he continued. “Once you’ve said you’ve done it, you become like an outcast.”
Affleck then said that he doesn’t believe “anybody wants to think” that “the sum total of who you are is your worst moment.”
Watch Affleck and Damon talk more about this in the video below.
Damon And Affleck’s History
Damon and Affleck have been best friends for the bulk of their lives. Indeed, they grew up together in Cambridge, Massachusetts. They skyrocketed to fame together after writing and starring in the 1997 hit movie Good Will Hunting. Damon and Affleck even won Oscars for best original screenplay for their work on the film.
Damon and Affleck are currently promoting their new movie The Rip. Before teaming up for their 2021 movie, The Last Duel, the duo took a long break from working together. They previously collaborated on six other films, including Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back in 2001.
“Well, we had gone, I think it was probably almost 20 years working together, and I think partly because when Good Will Hunting came out, all that time ago, we were so seen as a team, that I think we wanted to not kind get typecast,” Damon said of their break in another interview last week.
“But yeah, I was watching that Peter Jackson documentary and at the end of it, on the fourth one at the end, The Beatles play that live show on top of the roof and it was so great, and I was watching it with my daughter, and he put up this chyron that said ‘This is the last time The Beatles played live together,'” he added.
Damon Gets Emotional
This made Damon feel emotional, as he thought about how much more The Beatles could have done together. He concluded by saying that it was “the kind of emotional impetus” for him to turn to Affleck and say “let’s do this” and “go out on our shields at least together.”
In the radically liberal world of Hollywood, it’s rare to find stars who are brave enough to speak out against cancel culture. We applaud Affleck and Damon for having the guts to do just that.
God bless you, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon!