Matt Damon Keeps Talking About “Whitewashing,” May Not Actually Know What It Is

Matt Damon has been good in many roles: super spy (Jason Bourne), secret math genius janitor (Good Will Hunting), guy who needs to be rescued from space (Interstellar), guy who needs to be rescued from space AGAIN (The Martian). But here's a surprising new look for Damon: internet media theorist.

When the 30-second teaser for The Great Wall dropped last summer, viewers were immediately critical of Damon’s very embarrassing ponytail. But also, and more importantly, people were confused why a Chinese movie about the Great Wall of China starred a white guy. Was this a case of whitewashing—when a role more appropriate for a person of color is given to a white person?

In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Damon decided to blame the controversy on… the proliferation of fake news?

Damon questioned whether the critical stories on online news sites based on "a 30-second teaser trailer" would have existed before the era of fake news and headlines designed to make people click on them.

"It suddenly becomes a story because people click on it, versus the traditional ways that a story would get vetted before it would get to that point," said the star of the Bourne franchise.

Even in a post-Trump, post-truth era, this logic seems a little dubious at best. Is Damon really saying that all the criticism that his role in The Great Wall came from fake news sites? Wait, let’s allow Damon to explain himself.

In an interview with The Associated Press, the American actor said he thinks of the term "whitewashing" as applying to Caucasian actors putting on makeup to appear to be of another race, as was common in the early days of film and television, when racism was overt.

Damon, my dude! That is… not what whitewashing is!

What Damon is describing is racebending—which is a thing that rears its ugly head in Hollywood on occasion. While I can understand that these are not household terms, it might’ve been wise for Damon to spend some time understanding what his critics were actually taking issue with before responding to them.

For what it's worth, I do think whether Damon is appropriately cast is a more complicated question than just bald-faced whitewashing, given that The Great Wall is a Chinese and American co-production. But that's a conversation for another time. Maybe a time when it would be a fair fight, after Damon figures out what whitewashing actually is.

"That whole idea of whitewashing, I take that very seriously," Damon said.

To Damon’s credit, taking the allegations of whitewashing seriously is a good first step. But if he wants to engage with the conversation, he should probably understand exactly what whitewashing means. Otherwise, he’s going to keep getting roasted on Twitter.