--- description: The actor blamed a controversy-hungry blogosphere for misconstruing his comments in a recent interview with the Guardian. title: Matt Damon Says Comments About Gay Actors Were Taken Out of Context image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b4a79f9278e8bf6/698865f6cf40a88fb7c3ff5b/matt-damon3.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Entertainment](/section/entertainment/) ## Entertainment Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close * [celebrities](/tag/celebrities/) ## celebrities Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Matt Damon Says Comments About Gay Actors Were Taken Out of Context  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 29, 2015 3:25 PM CUT  Matt Damon attends the European premiere of "The Martian" at Odeon Leicester Square in London, on Sept. 24, 2015. Matt Damon attends the European premiere of "The Martian" at Odeon Leicester Square in London, on Sept. 24, 2015.Karwai Tang—Getty Images  by [Tanya Basu](/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Sep 29, 2015 3:25 PM CUT Actor Matt Damon used a visit to Ellen DeGeneneres’s talk show to address his controversial comments on gay actors, saying they were misconstrued by a blogosphere hungry to “click on your thing.” “I was just trying to say actors are more effective when they’re a mystery, right?” Damon told DeGeneres in an _Ellen_ [segment preview](http://www.ew.com/article/2015/09/28/matt-damon-gay-actors-ellen-interview "undefined"). “And somebody picked it up and said I said gay actors should get back in the closet. Which is like I mean it’s stupid, but it is painful when things get said that you don’t believe.” DeGeneres, who is openly gay, responded by saying, “I know you and I know you’re not that guy.” She later quipped to audience laughter: “And it shocks me that you and Ben \[Affleck\] are not gay. I mean, if you want to deny it and keep your ‘mystery’ and your ‘marriage’ and your ‘daughters’…” Damon’s comments were widely circulated, suggesting that the actor thought gay actors should not reveal their sexual orientation. “I think you’re a better actor the less people know about you period. And sexuality is a huge part of that,” [he told the _Guardian_ in a recent interview](http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/sep/27/matt-damon-i-think-you-are-a-better-actor-the-less-people-know-about-you "undefined") in light of his upcoming film, _The Martian_. “Whether you’re straight or gay, people shouldn’t know anything about your sexuality because that’s one of the mysteries that you should be able to play.” The interview will air later Tuesday. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4053706/matt-damon-gay-actor-ellen/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4053706/matt-damon-gay-actor-ellen/"},"headline":"Matt Damon Says Comments About Gay Actors Were Taken Out of Context","datePublished":"2015-09-29T15:25:23.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-22T11:21:03.966Z","description":"\"I was just trying to say actors are more effective when they’re a mystery, right?”","url":"https://time.com/4053706/matt-damon-gay-actor-ellen/","keywords":["celebrities","movies","LGBT","Matt Damon","Ellen Degeneres","The Ellen Show"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b4a79f9278e8bf6/698865f6cf40a88fb7c3ff5b/matt-damon3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"Entertainment","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9b4a79f9278e8bf6/698865f6cf40a88fb7c3ff5b/matt-damon3.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Matt Damon","caption":"Matt Damon","creditText":"Karwai Tang—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/entertainment/","name":"Entertainment"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/celebrities/","name":"celebrities"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4053706/matt-damon-gay-actor-ellen/","name":"Matt Damon Says Comments About Gay Actors Were Taken Out of Context"}}]}] ```