Ben Affleck and Matt Damon criticize cancel culture's permanent consequences

Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are tackling cancel culture.

During a recent interview on "The Joe Rogan Experience," the movie-making duo discussed their latest film together, "The Rip," and spoke candidly about how cancel culture takes things to an extreme level.

"I bet some of those people would have preferred to go to jail for 18 months or whatever and then come out and say, ‘No, but I paid my debt. Like, we're done. Like, can we be done?’" Damon said about those who have been canceled. "Like, the thing about getting kind of excoriated publicly like that, it just never ends."

Damon added that once someone has been publicly called out for something, the public won't let them forget it, and the mistake "will follow you to the grave."

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Affleck agreed with Damon, adding that people "have dark, f---ed up instincts to isolate people," and even "get joy out of" seeing someone else get in trouble, theorizing it brings them joy because they aren't the ones in trouble.

"Maybe because part of us is saying 'it's not me,' So if you can point the finger, everyone's looking over there. We feel safer, you know?" Affleck said.

"And to take any forgiveness out of it is a really f--ed up thing, because then it makes it impossible to actually go, ‘All right, yeah, I did that ... That was wrong. I get it,’ You know, because it doesn't matter. Once you've said you've done it, you become like an outcast."

He added that he doesn't believe "anybody wants to think" that "the sum total of who you are is your worst moment."

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The two Academy Award winners appeared on the podcast to promote their latest film, "The Rip," which premiered on Netflix on Friday. Loosely based on a true story, the crime thriller tells the story of a group of Miami police officers who find millions of dollars, leading to distrust and the officers questioning who they can trust.

Affleck and Damon's working relationship goes back to their childhood, as they grew up doing local theater and auditioning together in Massachusetts. They achieved mainstream success when they wrote and starred in the 1997 movie, "Good Will Hunting," winning the Academy Award for best screenplay together in 1998.

Prior to collaborating on the 2021 movie, "The Last Duel," the duo took a long break from working together, having previously collaborated on six other films, including "Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back" in 2001.

"Well, we had gone, I think it was probably almost 20 years working together, and I think partly because when 'Good Will Hunting' came out, all that time ago, we were so seen as a team, that I think we wanted to not kind get typecast," Damon said of their break from working together during an appearance on "The Kelly Clarkson Show" in January.

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He continued: "But yeah, I was watching that Peter Jackson documentary and at the end of it, on the fourth one at the end, The Beatles play that live show on top of the roof and it was so great, and I was watching it with my daughter, and he put up this chyron that said 'This is the last time The Beatles played live together.'"

Damon went on to say that the moment made him emotional, thinking about how much more The Beatles could have done together, adding it was "the kind of emotional impetus" for him to turn to Affleck and say "let's do this" and "go out on our shields at least together."