‘Predator apologist’: Matt Damon accused of hypocrisy over Kavanaugh SNL skit. But was it justified?

Matt Damon has been accused of hypocrisy after his SNL portrayal of Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh, with some pointing to his past comments about sexual assault, but it seems the actor’s critics may be clutching at straws.

The actor’s portrayal of Kavanaugh elicited a lot of laughs and mostly positive reaction on Twitter at the weekend – but some people were outraged, claiming Damon himself has disrespected victims of sexual assault and defended abusers in the past.

But what did Damon actually say that’s caused such outrage? It turns out, not that much. When fellow actor Casey Affleck was this year accused of sexual harassment that allegedly took place on a film set in 2010, Damon defended his friend, saying that he knew “the real story” about what happened.

Later, when comedian Louis C.K. admitted that allegations of sexual misconduct against him were true last year, Damon said he was a “fan” of the entertainer and said he couldn’t imagine that he would ever behave like that again. “I just think that we have to kind of start delineating between what these behaviors are,” Damon said.

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The actor was also slated for his reaction to the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal last year. Damon, who worked closely with Weinstein during his career, was accused of knowing more about the producer’s behavior than he admitted publicly and was labeled an enabler. He was also criticized for commenting that there’s “a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?”

However, the fairly mild comments were still enough to spark outrage on social media, where Damon was called an “enabler” of sexual assault, a “predator apologist” and a hypocrite for his portrayal of Kavanaugh, who has been accused of attempted rape by Dr Christine Blasey Ford.

It seems that Damon was indeed a little bit hypocritical, however, just perhaps not in the exact way his Twitter haters meant. When asked last year about how he would personally defend himself against hypothetical accusations of sexual misconduct, Damon said it would be “scorched earth” and that he would defend himself vigorously.

“I don’t care if it would cost me $10 million in court for 10 years, you are not taking my name from me, you are not taking my name and reputation from me, I’ve worked too hard for it, I’ve earned it, you can’t just blow me up like that."

Yet, Damon’s portrayal of Kavanaugh centered entirely around making fun of the accused Supreme Court nominee for angrily defending himself. It looks like for Damon, it’s okay to defend yourself and your liberal colleagues in Hollywood, but it’s not okay for the likes of Kavanaugh to do the same.

Damon isn’t the only actor who has been accused of hypocrisy over his SNL appearances. Alec Baldwin’s famous portrayals of US President Donald Trump​ were also criticized by some after Baldwin himself admitted to mistreating and bullying women in the past.

Earlier this year, the New York Times published a piece criticizing Baldwin for remarks he made in support of Woody Allen and James Toback; two film directors and friends of Baldwin’s who have both been accused of sexual assault. The author wrote that Baldwin had “bluntly minimized or dismissed women” who say they were victims of assault and said that his behavior in his personal life was “undercutting his satirical commentary” on Trump.

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