Canada Journal – News of the World Articles and videos to bring you the biggest Canadian news stories from across the country every day
Matt Damon has tried to give a black, female film producer a lesson in diversity, and the internet is not happy about it.
According to Jezebel, in the episode, Damon and actor pal Ben Affleck brought together a team of producers — mostly consisting of white men and one white woman — to find a qualified director for the new comedy series Not Another Pretty Woman. The finalists who were chosen were flown to Los Angeles where they met with the production team to discuss the next steps in the process. This is where they meet renowned Black filmmaker Effie Brown, known for producing several feature films including the critically acclaimed Dear White People.
After Brown suggests that it would be best to feature a diverse group of directors in the pool of potential candidates — seeing as the plot for Not Another Pretty Woman is described as a classic “girl leaves boy at the altar, boy falls in love with a Black prostitute” story — Damon firmly disagrees with her statement.
“When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show,” he said adamantly. Visibly shocked by his response, Brown replied, “Wow. Ok.”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iCHRaVXrB7E
While his words left a bad taste in many viewers’ mouths, what left many particularly disturbed was his overbearing actions where he repeatedly talked over Brown in an attempt to silence her mid-statement.
Agencies/Canadajournal
