Alyssa Milano, Minnie Driver call out Matt Damon for sexual abuse comments

  • 18/12/2017
Alyssa Milano, Minnie Driver call out Matt Damon for sexual abuse comments.
Alyssa Milano; Matt Damon; Minnie Driver Photo credit: Getty

Alyssa Milano and Minnie Driver have called out Matt Damon's "tone-deaf" comments on sexual abuse, saying they amount to being part of the problem.

The Bourne Identity star insisted people need to differentiate between rape and "patting someone on the butt" and suggested comedian Louis CK has paid a higher price than he ought to for sexually harassing women.

Driver, his Good Will Hunting co-star, responded by saying he simply cannot understand what suffering sexual abuse is like and by making such statements is actually part of the problem.

Milano took to Twitter to try and educate Damon about rape culture, which she suggested is like cancer.

"There are different stages of cancer. Some more treatable than others. But it's still cancer," the Commando star said.

Damon made the controversial comments during an interview with Peter Travers on ABC News.

"There's a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation," the 47-year-old said.

"Both of those behaviours need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn't be conflated, right?"

When talking about Louis CK, Damon said he should be able to work again.

"I don't imagine he's going to do those things again... I imagine the price that he's paid at this point is so beyond anything that he - I just think that we have to kind of start delineating between what these behaviours are."

Driver initially responded on Twitter, simply saying, "Good God, seriously?"

Minnie Driver: men like Matt Damon 'cannot understand what abuse is like'.
Minnie Driver and Matt Damon in Good Will Hunting Photo credit: Miramax Films

She elaborated with a longer reaction in an interview with The Guardian.

"I've realised that with most men - good men, the men that I love - there is a cut-off in their ability to understand. They simply cannot understand what abuse is like on a daily level," said Driver.

"I honestly think that until we get on the same page, you can't tell a woman about their abuse. A man cannot do that. No one can. It is so individual and so personal, it's galling when a powerful man steps up and starts dictating the terms, whether he intends it or not."

Milano's series of tweets can be read below.

Newshub.