Ben Affleck and Matt Damon are adopting the inclusion rider — and they desperately need it
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck announced Monday that their film company will adopt inclusion riders in all their future projects. An inclusion rider — brought to the national consciousness by Frances McDormand's acceptance speech for Best Actress at the Academy Awards earlier this month — lets actors demand a film meet a certain level of diversity in its cast and crew.
Brie Larson, who won the Best Actress statuette in 2016, was among the first to hop on board the inclusion rider movement, alongside Black Panther star Michael B. Jordan. Affleck and Damon have now followed just a few days later.
The problem? These two don't have the best track record with inclusivity.
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Last October, Affleck was accused of groping actress Hilarie Burton in 2003, when she was a TRL host; he quickly apologized. He also said he had no knowledge of Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein's predatory behavior, though his Phantoms co-star Rose McGowan claimed otherwise.
Meanwhile, Damon slipped up while addressing the Time's Up movement back in December, telling ABC News he'd consider working with someone accused of sexual misconduct on a "case-by-case basis." He dug himself a deeper hole while talking to Business Insider, suggesting men who hadn't been accused of sexual misconduct weren't getting enough recognition.
Damon tried to clean it all up in mid-January, telling Today that he should "get in the backseat and close my mouth for a while."
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