Matt Damon has been criticized on social media after claiming to have only recently stopped using a homophobic slur after being confronted by his daughter.
The 50-year-old Good Will Hunting star breached the subject in a recent interview with The Sunday Times, in which he spoke about how attitudes towards "modern masculinity" have changed since he was younger.
In particular, he claimed that the use of the word "f*****" or "f**" - derogatory terms used to describe homosexual individuals - was once far more widespread in everyday society.
To illustrate this, Damon stated: "The word that my daughter calls the 'f-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application."
"I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter. She left the table. I said: 'Come on, that’s a joke! I say it in the movie Stuck on You!'
"She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said: 'I retire the f-slur!' I understood."
However, when snippets of Damon's interview emerged on social media, a number of Twitter users lambasted the actor for using such offensive language so recently.
For instance, comedian Travon Free wrote: "So Matt Damon just figured out 'months ago', by way of a 'treatise' from a child, that he's not supposed to say the word f*****. Months ago. Months ago."
Hollywood Reporter journalist Daniel Fienberg commented: "As a member of the press, I like when celebrities talk to the press.
"But it's always illuminating to hear the stories that folks like Liam Neeson or Matt Damon think are humanizing and charming, but actually reveal insulation and isolation (among other unsavory stuff) instead."
The Lion King star Billy Eichner wrote: "I want to know what word Matt Damon has replaced f***** with."
Another critic commented: "I've lost some respect for Matt Damon for two reasons: 1. Being a [...] Harvard-educated person who only realized using homophobic slurs was a bad thing *months* ago; and
"2. Being foolish enough to think that was a cute story he should share with the world."
Finally, someone else chimed in: "The fact that Matt Damon’s daughter had to explain to him that saying a slur is wrong is insane."
Per Pink News, Twitter users also gave Damon the meme treatment following his revelation - with the publication describing them as "far funnier than any of Damon’s dinner table jokes, or his own films, to be fair".
