Alyssa Milano Educates Matt Damon After His Horrid Response To Sexual Misconduct

Actress Alyssa Milano taught a master class on the problems of sexual misconduct Friday night. Her student? Matt Damon.

Damon raised more than a few eyebrows this week when he suggested that sexual harassment and sexual assault “shouldn’t be conflated,” then gave examples of how he and others should handle different levels of sexual misbehavior in an ABC News interview.

Actress Alyssa Milano put Matt Damon in his place after his convoluted statement on sexual misconduct accusations. (Photo: Santiago Felipe via Getty Images)
Actress Alyssa Milano put Matt Damon in his place after his convoluted statement on sexual misconduct accusations. (Photo: Santiago Felipe via Getty Images)

“I do believe that there’s a spectrum of behavior,” Damon said in the interview. “And we’re going to have to figure out — you know, there’s a difference between, you know, patting someone on the butt and rape or child molestation, right? Both of those behaviors need to be confronted and eradicated without question, but they shouldn’t be conflated, right?”

“It’s the micro that makes the macro,” Milano wrote in a tweet addressed to the Oscar-winning actor.

“We are in a ‘culture of outrage’ because the magnitude of rage is, in fact, overtly outrageous,” she added. “And it is righteous.”

Milano helped get the #MeToo movement trending on social media in October after film mogul Harvey Weinstein was publicly accused of being a serial sexual abuser.

Sharing the #MeToo hashtag would help show the world how common sexual assault and harassment are, the actress said at the time. “We might give people a sense of the magnitude of the problem,” she tweeted.

Now directing her attention to Damon, Milano shared that she has been a victim of sexual harassment, assault and all notches across the spectrum Damon had suggested.

“They all hurt,” Milano tweeted Friday night. “And they are all connected to a patriarchy intertwined with normalized, accepted ― even welcomed ― misogyny.”

She then expressed the deeper reasons why survivors of assault and harassment are so incensed over the entire spectrum of sexual misconduct: They have long been “gaslighted” and “silenced.”

“We are not outraged because someone grabbed our asses in a picture. We are outraged because we were made to feel this was normal,” Milano wrote. “We are outraged because we have been gaslighted. We are outraged because we were silenced for so long.”

Milano likened Damon’s so-called spectrum of misconduct to the different stages of cancer. Though some stages of cancer are more treatable than others, they’re all cancer, Milano explained.

The tumor, however, is now being cut out, she concluded.

“Sexual harassment, misconduct, assault and violence is a systemic disease,” Milano wrote. “The tumor is being cut out right now with no anesthesia. Please send flowers.”

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Ashley Judd

Ashley Judd <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/05/us/harvey-weinstein-harassment-allegations.html" target="_blank">told the New York Times</a>&nbsp;that Harvey Weinstein&nbsp;invited her to his hotel room and asked her if&nbsp;he could give her a massage or if she wanted to watch him shower.&nbsp;<br /><br />She told the Times that she thought, &ldquo;How do I get out of the room as fast as possible without alienating Harvey Weinstein?&rdquo;&nbsp;

Gwyneth Paltrow

Gwyneth Paltrow <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/gwyneth-paltrow-angelina-jolie-harvey-weinstein.html" target="_blank">told the New York Times that</a>&nbsp;Weinstein touched her inappropriately.&nbsp;<br /><br />&ldquo;I was a kid, I was signed up, I was petrified,&rdquo; she said, noting that when Weinstein found out she told her then-boyfriend Brad Pitt, "I thought he was going to fire me."

Angelina Jolie

&ldquo;I had a bad experience with Harvey Weinstein in my youth, and as a result, chose never to work with him again and warn others when they did,&rdquo; <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/10/us/gwyneth-paltrow-angelina-jolie-harvey-weinstein.html" target="_blank">Angelina Jolie told the New York Times.</a>&nbsp;&ldquo;This behavior towards women in any field, any country is unacceptable.&rdquo;

Kate Winslet

<a href="http://variety.com/2017/film/news/kate-winslet-harvey-weinstein-allegations-sexual-harassment-scandal-1202584733/" target="_blank">Kate Winslet&nbsp;told Variety that</a> she had heard rumors of Weinstein's behavior for years.<br /><br />"I had hoped that these kind of stories were just made up rumours, maybe we have all been na&iuml;ve," she said. "And it makes me so angry. There must be &lsquo;no tolerance&rsquo; of this degrading, vile treatment of women in ANY workplace anywhere in the world.&rdquo;

Meryl Streep

<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/meryl-streep-harvey-weinstein_us_59db5d87e4b072637c45420e">Meryl Streep told HuffPost</a> that the women who came forward about Weinstein's behavior&nbsp;are "heroes."<br /><br />&ldquo;The disgraceful news about Harvey Weinstein has appalled those of us whose work he championed, and those whose good and worthy causes he supported," she said in a statement.&nbsp;

Rose McGowan

Rose McGowan has been vocal about the scandal since the New York Times published its bombshell report on Weinstein's alleged misconduct. McGowan, the Times said,&nbsp;was one of several women&nbsp;with whom Weinstein reached a financial settlement following the alleged abuse.&nbsp;<br /><br />After The Weinstein Company fired Harvey, <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/rose-mcgowan-weinstein-board_us_59db2ee0e4b046f5ad994249?ncid=tweetlnkushpmg00000067">the actress and director called on</a>&nbsp;the rest of the studio's board to resign.<br /><br />"They knew," she said in a tweet. "They funded. They advised. They covered up. They must be exposed. They must resign."

Ben Affleck

"I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades," <a href="https://twitter.com/BenAffleck/status/917787533802655744" target="_blank">Ben Affleck posted on Twitter.</a>&nbsp;"The additional allegations of assault that I read this morning made me sick."<br /><br />Actress Rose McGowan&nbsp;denounced Affleck for implying that he didn't know of the abuse before this week, saying that&nbsp;the pair had previously discussed Weinstein's treatment of her.<br /><br />"You lie," <a href="https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan/status/917848581540757504" target="_blank">she&nbsp;tweeted.</a>

Lena Dunham

'Girls' co-creator and star Lena Dunham <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/09/opinion/harvey-weinstein-lena-dunham-silence-.html" target="_blank">penned an op-ed for the New York Times</a> calling on more men to speak out against Weinstein and others like him.&nbsp;<br /><br />"Abuse, threats and coercion have been the norm for so many women trying to do business or make art," she wrote. "Mr. Weinstein may be the most powerful man in Hollywood to be revealed as a predator, but he&rsquo;s certainly not the only one who has been allowed to run wild. His behavior, silently co-signed for decades by employees and collaborators, is a microcosm of what has been happening in Hollywood since always and of what workplace harassment looks like for women everywhere."

George Clooney

In an interview with The Daily Beast, <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/george-clooney-speaks-out-on-harvey-weinstein-its-disturbing-on-a-whole-lot-of-levels" target="_blank">George Clooney said that</a>, for decades, he'd heard rumors about Weinstein, but dismissed them as&nbsp;gossip. Calling Weinstein's behavior "disturbing" and "indefensible," Clooney said he had no idea&nbsp;of the severity of the accusations.&nbsp;<br /><br />"A good bunch of people that I know would say, &ldquo;Yeah, Harvey&rsquo;s a dog&rdquo; or &ldquo;Harvey&rsquo;s chasing girls,&rdquo; but again, this is a very different kind of thing," the actor told the Daily Beast. "This is harassment on a very high level. And there&rsquo;s an argument that everyone is complicit in it. I suppose the argument would be that it&rsquo;s not just about Hollywood, but about all of us&mdash;that every time you see someone using their power and influence to take advantage of someone without power and influence and you&nbsp;<i>don&rsquo;t</i>&nbsp;speak up, you&rsquo;re complicit. And there&rsquo;s no question about that."

Jennifer Lawrence

Jennifer Lawrence&nbsp;won an Academy Award for "Silver Linings Playbook," which The Weinstein Company distributed. She called the alleged harassment "inexcusable and absolutely upsetting."<br /><br />"I worked with Harvey five years ago, and I did not experience any form of harassment personally, nor did I know about any of these allegations. This kind of abuse is inexcusable and absolutely upsetting," <a href="https://www.glamour.com/story/jennifer-lawrence-harvey-weinstein-allegations" target="_blank">Lawrence said in a statement.</a>&nbsp;"My heart goes out to all of the women affected by these gross actions. And I want to thank them for their bravery to come forward."

Hillary Clinton

Weinstein was a major Democratic Party benefactor, having donated to or raised money for a host of candidates, including Hillary Clinton.<br /><br /><a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/10/politics/hillary-clinton-harvey-weinstein/index.html" target="_blank">Clinton said that she</a> "was shocked and appalled by the revelations about Harvey Weinstein. The behavior described by women coming forward cannot be tolerated. Their courage and the support of others is critical in helping to stop this kind of behavior."

Barack and Michelle Obama

<a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/09/politics/clinton-obama-weinstein/index.html" target="_blank">Weinstein visited the White House</a> multiple times while Obama was in office after having raised huge funds&nbsp;for his presidential campaign. Earlier this year, Malia Obama&nbsp;also reportedly worked for the Weinstein Company.<br /> <br />"Michelle and I have been disgusted by the recent reports about Harvey Weinstein," <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/10/politics/hillary-clinton-harvey-weinstein/index.html" target="_blank">the Obamas said in a statement</a>. "Any man who demeans and degrades women in such fashion needs to be condemned and held accountable, regardless of wealth or status. We should celebrate the courage of women who have come forward to tell these painful stories. And we all need to build a culture -- including by empowering our girls and teaching our boys decency and respect -- so we can make such behavior less prevalent in the future."

Judi Dench

Judi Dench, who won an Oscar for her performance in the Weinstein-backed "Shakespeare in Love" and was nominated for two other films under his wing, denounced the alleged abuse.<br /><br />"Whilst there is no doubt that Harvey Weinstein has helped and championed my film career for the past 20 years, I was completely unaware of these offenses which are, of course, horrifying and I offer my sympathy to those who have suffered, and whole-hearted support to those who have spoken out," <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/judi-dench-says-she-was-completely-unaware-harvey-weinstein-accusations-1047040" target="_blank">she said in a statement.</a>

Leonardo DiCaprio

Leonardo DiCaprio worked with Weinstein on&nbsp;blockbuster films like &ldquo;Gangs of New York,&rdquo; &ldquo;The Aviator,&rdquo; and &ldquo;Django Unchained.&rdquo;<br /><br />"There is no excuse for sexual harrassment or sexual assault-- no matter who you are and no matter what profession," <a href="https://www.facebook.com/LeonardoDiCaprio/posts/10154810955527116" target="_blank">DiCarpio&nbsp;said in a Facebook Post.</a>&nbsp;"I applaud the strength and courage of the women who came forward and made their voices heard."

Jessica Chastain

Jessica Chastain has been one of the most outspoken critics of Weinstein and of Hollywood's complicity since The New York Times published its damning report.<br /><br />"I was warned from the beginning" about Weinstein, <a href="https://twitter.com/jes_chastain/status/917504541708443650" target="_blank">she said in a tweet. </a>"The stories were everywhere. To deny that is to create an environment for it to happen again."

Julianne Moore

Moore, who starred in the Weinstein-backed film "A Single Man," <a href="https://twitter.com/_juliannemoore/status/917400026120323072" target="_blank">tweeted that</a> "coming forward about sexual abuse and coercion is scary and women have nothing to be gained personally by doing so.&nbsp; But through their bravery we move forward as a culture, and I thank them. Stand with <a href="https://twitter.com/AshleyJudd" data-mentioned-user-id="248747209">@<strong>AshleyJudd</strong></a> <a href="https://twitter.com/rosemcgowan" data-mentioned-user-id="46233559">@<strong>rosemcgowan</strong></a> and others."

Colin Firth

Calling&nbsp;Weinstein a&nbsp;"frightening man to stand up to," <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/film/2017/oct/10/colin-firth-harvey-weinstein-kings-speech-sexual-harassment-claims" target="_blank">Colin Firth&nbsp;told The Guardian that</a>&nbsp;reading about the allegations gave him "a feeling of nausea." <br /><br />&ldquo;It must have been terrifying for these women to step up and call him out. And horrifying to be subjected to that kind of harassment. I applaud their courage."

Tamron Hall

&ldquo;It&rsquo;s a woman&rsquo;s worst nightmare to be in a situation where you believe someone more powerful has control over your life,&rdquo; former "Today" show host Tamron Hall&nbsp;<a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/tamron-hall-weinstein-reaction_us_59dd4e95e4b0b26332e7acd6">told HuffPost</a>. She called the allegations against Weinstein "horrifying."

Blake Lively

Blake Lively spoke out against Weinstein in an interview with <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/rambling-reporter/blake-lively-addresses-harvey-weinstein-allegations-devastating-hear-1047599" target="_blank">The Hollywood Reporter</a>.&nbsp;<br /><br />The actress said that she was unaware of the abuse but admitted that "it's devastating to hear."&nbsp;<br /><br />"It's important that women are furious right now. It's important that there is an uprising. It's important that we don't stand for this and that we don't focus on one or two or three or four stories. It's important that we focus on humanity in general and say, 'This is unacceptable.'"

Julia Roberts

Julia Roberts gave a statement to <a href="http://people.com/movies/julia-roberts-women-harvey-weinstein/" target="_blank">People</a>, saying, &ldquo;A corrupt, powerful man wields his influence to abuse and manipulate&nbsp;women. We&rsquo;ve heard this infuriating, heartbreaking story countless times before. And now here we go&nbsp;again. I stand firm in the hope that we will finally come together as a&nbsp;society to stand up against this kind of predatory behavior, to help&nbsp;victims find their voices and their healing, and to stop it once and for&nbsp;all."

Ryan Gosling

&ldquo;I want to add my voice of support for the women who have had the courage to speak out against Harvey Weinstein,&rdquo; Gosling <a href="https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/ryan-gosling-on-weinstein-he-is-emblematic-of-a-systemic-problem_us_59dfb2b8e4b0a52aca1672b6" target="_blank">wrote in a note on Twitter</a>. &ldquo;Like most people in Hollywood, I have worked with him and I&rsquo;m deeply disappointed in myself for being so oblivious to these devastating experiences of sexual harassment and abuse. He is emblematic of a systemic problem. Men should stand with women and work together until there is real accountability and change.&rdquo;

This article originally appeared on HuffPost.