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Liberal actor says there's a 'spectrum' in sexual misconduct: Franken, Louis C.K. aren't Weinstein
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Liberal actor says there's a 'spectrum' in sexual misconduct: Franken, Louis C.K. aren't Weinstein

Actor Matt Damon on Thursday revealed his thoughts on the #MeToo movement that's taken over 2017 and discussed the differences in sexual misconduct allegations between embattled film producer Harvey Weinstein and people like comedian Louis C.K. — real name Louis Szekely — and Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn).

What did he say about Weinstein?

Damon, speaking with ABC News' Peter Travers on Thursday's "Popcorn With Peter Travers," said that it wasn't true that "everybody knew" about the sexual misconduct allegations against Weinstein.

"A lot of people said, 'Well, Harvey [Weinstein] — everybody knew,'" Damon told Travers. "As you were saying, that’s not true. Everybody knew what kind of guy he was in the sense that, if you took a meeting with him, you knew that he was tough and he was a bully and that was his reputation. And he enjoyed that reputation because he was making the best movies out there."

Damon, who worked with Weinstein on his Oscar-winning film “Good Will Hunting,” also said that "nobody who made movies for him knew" about the allegations — some of which included rape.

Weinstein has denied allegations of non-consensual sex.

"Any human being would have put a stop to that, no matter who he was," Damon added. "They would’ve said, 'Absolutely no.'"

What did he say about others?

Damon later commented on allegations against Szekely and Franken.

"The Louis C.K. thing, I don’t know all the details," Damon explained. "I don’t do deep dives on this, but I did see his statement, which [was] kind of arresting to me. When he came out and said, 'I did this. I did these things. These women are all telling the truth.' And I just remember thinking, 'Well, that’s the sign of somebody who — well, we can work with that.'"

Adding that he doesn't personally know Szekely, Damon noted that he doesn't believe the comedian will "do those things again."

"I imagine the price that he’s paid at this point is so beyond anything," Damon said. "I just think that we have to start delineating between what these behaviors are."

Damon also addressed the allegations against Franken, which resulted in his announcing his resignation from the Senate.

"When you see Al Franken taking a picture putting his hands on that woman’s flak jacket and mugging for the camera ... that is just like a terrible joke, and it’s not funny," Damon said. "It’s wrong, and he shouldn’t have done that."

"But when you talk about Harvey and what he’s accused of, there are no pictures of that," he added. "He knew he was up to no good. There’s no witnesses. There’s no pictures. There’s no braggadocio. That stuff happened secretly, because it was criminal and he knew it. So they don’t belong in the same category."

Damon later addressed the "spectrum" of behavior.

"I do believe that there's a spectrum of behavior, right? ... There's a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right?" he said. "Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn't be conflated, right?"

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