Matt Damon has apologized for controversial remarks he made on the season premiere of HBO’s Project Greenlight over the weekend.
As we wrote about extensively earlier this week, Matt Damon fell into hot water when he implied that diverse filmmakers are not needed to make a story diverse on screen.
“I believe deeply that there need to be more diverse filmmakers making movies,” he said in his statement on Wednesday. “I love making movies. It’s what I have chosen to do with my life and I want every young person watching Project Greenlight to believe that filmmaking is a viable form of creative expression for them too.
“My comments were part of a much broader conversation about diversity in Hollywood and the fundamental nature of Project Greenlight which did not make the show. I am sorry that they offended some people, but, at the very least, I am happy that they started a conversation about diversity in Hollywood. That is an ongoing conversation that we all should be having.”
We’d like to see HBO release the “broader conversation” so the public could see Damon’s thoughts fleshed out completely. With that said, his remarks and the reaction from producer Effie Brown in the clip below suggest little room for misinterpretation:
Matt Damon speaking over the only black person in the room so he can explain diversity to her is SO WHITE it hurts pic.twitter.com/iaQStYZ0ij
— Glen Coco (@MrPooni) September 14, 2015