Matt Damon has issued an apology after he appeared to downplay the importance of diversity in the movie industry. The actor and budding director is a judge on the HBO reality show 'Project Greenlight', and was heavily criticised on social media for comments he made to fellow judge and film-maker Effie Brown when talking about a movie that they were considering approving, with the hashtag '#damonsplaining' trending soon afterwards.

On last Sunday’s episode, Brown, who produced 2014’s award-winning Dear White People, was urging caution in green-lighting a movie in which “the only black person” is a “hooker who gets hit by her white pimp”, and urged the selection of a different creative team to take the project forwards to ensure that this wasn’t a racial stereotype.

Matt DamonMatt Damon caused a social media backlash after his comments on last weekend's 'Project Greenlight'

At this point, Damon interrupted her to point out that other, less diverse candidates had raised the same concerns, and said: “When we’re talking about diversity, you do it in the casting of the film, not in the casting of the show.” Brown’s taken-aback response was simply: “Wow. OK.”

He later compounded his folly by saying in a different segment of the episode: “I’m glad Effie flagged the issue of diversity for all of us, because film-making should throw a broader net and it’s high time for that to change,” he said. “But ultimately, if you suddenly change the rules of this competition at the 11th hour, it just seems like you would undermine what the competition was supposed to be about, which is about giving somebody this job based entirely on merit, and leaving all other factors out of it.”

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“It’s just strictly a film-making competition. I think the whole point of this thing is that you go for the best director, period,” he finished.

“I believe deeply that there need to be more diverse film-makers making movies,” Damon’s apology, given to The Wrap on Thursday (September 17th), reads. “I love making movies. It’s what I have chosen to do with my life and I want every young person watching ‘Project Greenlight’ to believe that film-making is a viable form of creative expression for them too.”

“My comments were part of a much broader conversation about diversity in Hollywood and the fundamental nature of 'Project Greenlight', which did not make the show. I am sorry that they offended some people, but, at the very least, I am happy that they started a conversation about diversity in Hollywood. That is an ongoing conversation that we all should be having.”

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