Matt Damon said he finally stopped using a homophobic slur a few months ago after his daughter wrote a 'treatise' on it

• Matt Damon said he "retired" use of a homophobic slur after his daughter called him out on it.
• He told The Sunday Times it "was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application."
• Damon added that the recent cultural shift had led him to "shut the f--- up more."

Matt Damon said he stopped using a certain homophobic slur after one of his daughters told him not to months ago, the UK's Sunday Times reported.

"The word that my daughter calls the 'F-slur for a homosexual' was commonly used when I was a kid, with a different application," the Oscar-winning 50-year-old actor said. "I made a joke - months ago - and got a treatise from my daughter.

"She left the table. I said, 'Come on, that's a joke! I say it in the movie 'Stuck on You!' She went to her room and wrote a very long, beautiful treatise on how that word is dangerous. I said, 'I retire the F-slur!' I understood."

The actor has three daughters - ages 15, 12, and 10 - with his wife of 16 years, Luciana Barroso.

As the Sunday Times article noted, Damon has gotten scrutiny for his comments before.

During the filming in 2015 of "Project Greenlight" - a documentary series that features first-time filmmakers - Damon was blasted for disregarding his Black colleague Effie Brown's concerns about needing diversity on set. He later apologized for his comment, as Variety reported.

In 2017, when multiple sexual-misconduct allegations emerged against the Hollywood mogul Harvey Weinstein, Damon said: "As the father of four daughters, this is the kind of sexual predation that keeps me up at night."

The New York magazine writer Hunter Harris - and many others - blasted Damon for the way he framed the comment.

"You don't need a daughter to feel guilty about working with a man who preys on young women," Harris wrote. "You just need a conscience."

Damon addressed this in his interview with The Sunday Times, saying he understood why he was criticized, adding: "It's a fair point. Anybody should be offended by that behavior."

The "Good Will Hunting" actor said recent cultural shifts had made him "shut the f--- up more."

"Before, it didn't really matter what I said because it didn't make the news," he said.

More recently, the "Stillwater" actor was called out by Amanda Knox for making a movie without her consent that she described as exploitative.

In 2007, Knox was convicted of murder over the death of her roommate while she was studying in Italy and spent four years in prison. Italy's highest court overturned the conviction in 2015. "Stillwater" was inspired by her story.