Matt Damon insists the controversial comments he made about diversity in Hollywood were edited.
Matt Damon
The 44-year-old actor came under fire after suggesting that films only need a broader range of actors and not necessarily directors or producers during a heated debate with producer Effie Brown on the Season 4 premiere episode of his HBO reality show, 'Project Greenlight,' which offers filmmakers a chance to direct a $3 million feature film but insists his comments were taken out of context.
He told the New York Times: "The idea that I would say that there didn't need to be diversity behind the camera, it's not only complete anathema to what I believe in my heart and always have. But it's not something that I think anybody would ever say with a camera on.
"When Effie was advocating for the woman and the Vietnamese-American guy, what I actually said was, 'Are we judging a contest or are we casting a reality show?'. And that's when she said, 'Wow.' And I went, no, Effie, I'm completely serious, what is our responsibility at this point? Because we had already blown it on the competition."
Despite the controversy, Matt insisted that he and Effie did not fall out over their discussion.
He said: "We were fine that day. It wasn't like I left and said, 'Boy, I got in an argument with Effie Brown,' and I don't think she would have left thinking that she had had an argument with me. But the truth is, Effie did an awesome job for us. She's an awesome producer."
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