Watch: Whoopi Goldberg speaks out about Matt Damon controversy
By Will Stroude
Whoopi Goldberg has given her two cents on the recent controversy sparked my Matt Damon’s comments that actors should keep their sexuality a mystery, saying that it shouldn’t matter what the public know about an actor personally, because they should be able to “play everything and play it convincingly”.
Damon attracted criticism earlier this week after implying that gay actors were better off professionally if they stayed in the closet, but later clarified his remarks on Ellen, saying his quotes were taken out of context and that “it is painful when things get said that you don’t believe”.
Goldberg waded into the debate during yesterday’s episode of US talk show The View as the panel discussed the controversy, arguing that what the public knows about an actor’s sexuality shouldn’t have anything to do with their ability to portray a character onscreen.
“I will tell you this,” the 59-year-old said. “I played a gay woman in The Color Purple, a man in The Associate, and we’re actors, we’re supposed to be able to play everything and play it convincingly. So I don’t think whether you know or think or believe I’m gay has anything to do with what my abilities are.
“As an actor that’s how I feel.”
Her fellow panelist Raven Symone, who says she rejects labels but is in a relationship with a woman, responded that while keeping an actor’s private life private might help the audience suspend their disbelief, it was getting harder to do so in the modern age.
“There’s issue now with the way our social media is popping up, and people wanting to be celebrities and not actors, or singers,” the former Disney star said.
Goldberg agreed that actors would now struggle to keep their sexuality private anyway, saying: “You can have your privacy, but you’re outed. People out you. People tell your business whether you tell it or not.
“In terms of mystique and all of that stuff, you used to be able to make that choice for yourself.”
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