Matt Damon has (kind of) apologised for interrupting a Black filmmaker to talk about diversity, during HBO’s Project Greenlight.
Last weekend was the fourth season premiere of Damon and Affleck’s passion project, where they give first-time filmmakers the chance to make a movie. During the show, Damon and Affleck enlist a group of producers to help them choose finalists, who fly in to meet the producers. One of these producers was Effie Brown, an experienced Hollywood filmmaker. Brown has produced seventeen feature films including this year’s Dear White People, a critically acclaimed comedy addressing the complexities of race in modern day American universities.
As the only person of colour in the group, and one of the comparatively few Black women filmmakers in Hollywood, Brown has always been very attuned to the lack of diversity in the film industry, a subject she spoke about during the discussion. Brown addressed the stereotypical roles forced onto actors of colour, and the limited representation of fully-rounded people of colour onscreen.
During the discussion of one the films, Brown points out that the only Black person in the film is an abused prostitute, and raises the point that directors of colour could help in avoiding turning this role into just another racist trope. Speaking of the finalists, and their ability to understand the issues of diversity and respect in films, she calmly suggests that Damon, Affleck and the judges are “looking at this group right here and who you’re picking, and the story that you’re doing.”
Matt Damon then interrupted Brown and began Whitesplaining diversity to a Black woman producer, claiming that “When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show” – meaning that Damon isn’t particularly interested in promoting directors of colour or hiring any diverse filmmakers, and is instead happy to just cast a few (or in this case, one) Black actor for the film.
As a side note: this technique of assuming White directors will hire actors of colour also doesn’t really promote diversity, as according to the UCLA’s 2015 Hollywood Diversity Report, only 16.7% of 2013 leading roles were held by non-White actors.
Damon quickly came under fire for his racial insensitivity and for interrupting a Black woman to lecture her about diversity. Twitter, as usual was very vocal and scathing, creating a new moniker for the combined phenomena of Mansplaining and Whitesplaining – “Damonsplaining.”
Today, Damon released a statement giving a “sorry if you were offended” apology (i.e.- not really an apology), telling The Wrap:
“I believe deeply that there need to be more diverse filmmakers making movies. 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.”
A conversation he hopefully won’t interrupt, next time.