Is Matt Damon Racist? ‘Project Greenlight’ Diversity Comments Come Under Fire

Matt Damon is coming under fire for something he said. No, the blasphemous comment, that Jason Bourne could beat Batman in a fight, although we should all still be mad at him for that. No, the Martian actor stepped in it when made some comments about diversity on HBO’s Project Greenlight. Damon stirred up controversy and cries of racism when he expressed an opinion about, what is essentially, affirmative action, when it came to choosing narrowing down the playing field.

(Note* The extended version of the scene, shown in complete context, can be found here.)

On Sunday’s premiere episode of Project Greenlight, producer Effie Brown, urged Ben Affleck and Matt Damon to consider diversifying the list of candidates, saying (via People):

"I would just want to urge people to think about whoever this director is, the way that they are going to treat the character of Harmony with her being a prostitute, the only black person being a hooker who gets hit by her white pimp. You're looking at this group right here and who you're picking and the story that you're doing, and I just want to make sure that we are doing our best."

Damon then preceded to attempt to counter Effie’s claims, pointing out that most diversified set of candidates, where the only ones who didn’t have a problem with the script, as was, stating:

"I will say that the only team that's left with diversity is the team that announced that they like this script the most as it is, and that's Leo and Kristen. Everyone else had major problems with exactly the things you're bringing up and exactly the things that we brought up to each other."

Damon really got the twitterverse all fired up with his next comment, saying:

"When we're talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show."

Damon later pointed out that the competition designed the best director, regardless of gender or race:

"If suddenly you change the rules of this competition at the 11th hour, it just seems like you would undermine what the competition is supposed to be about, which is about giving someone this job based entirely on merit and leaving all other factors out of it. It's just strictly a filmmaking competition."

What do you think about Matt Damon’s comments? Do you think were out of line or justified? Let us know your thoughts on the subject in the comments section at the bottom of the page.