Matt Damon on Gay Rumors: I Never Denied Them Because I Was Offended

Matt Damon and Ben Affleck's convincing performance as two good buddies in 1997's "Good Will Hunting" has sparked "bro-mance" rumors about them. Over the years, the "Contagion" actor never addressed them until recently when he chatted with Playboy.

"I never denied those rumors," Damon said. The 42-year-old hunk explained the reason behind his silence, "Because I was offended and didn't want to offend my friends who were gay, as if being gay were some kind of f**king disease. It put me in a weird position in that sense."

Having a lot of gay friends, Damon was happy for them with the growing tolerance toward homosexual people. "(T)he fact that Anderson Cooper and Ellen DeGeneres can come out so beautifully and powerfully, and it's a big f**king deal that it turns out nobody gives a s**t," he said.

Unfortunately, many people like the talented Liberace died before they could taste such acceptance. "If Liberace were alive today, everybody would love his music and nobody would care what he did in his private life. Like with Elton John," the actor said.

Damon once had to turn down an offer from Gus Van Sant, the director of "Good Will Hunting", to star in gay cowboy movie "Brokeback Mountain" because he just did a gay movie ("The Talented Mr. Ripley") and a cowboy movie ("All the Pretty Horses") back then.

Now that there's a few good years since those movies were released, Damon accepted an offer to be Liberace's lover Scott Thorson in HBO's TV movie "Behind the Candelabra". He stars opposite Michael Douglas who tackles the role as the legendary piano player in the upcoming biopic. "These two men were deeply in love and in a real relationship - a marriage - long before there was gay marriage. That's not an insignificant thing," he explained. "Their conversations when they're dressing or undressing or having a spat or getting ready for bed? That's every marriage."

"It feels like you're witnessing something really intimate you would normally see with a man and a woman, but instead it's two men, which was thrilling. There's stuff I think will make people uncomfortable. Great. It's HBO - they can change the channel."

So, what was it like to kiss Douglas? Damon laughed, "Michael was a wonderful kisser." Another thing to expect from this movie is there will be a lot of scene where he ditched his clothes. "Normally I'd say no to nudity, but I just did a lot of it. ... I mean, it's tastefully done," he gushed. "But this movie's not going to be for everyone."

Most importantly, Damon tried his best to bring respect to the homosexuality subject through the movie, like Heath Ledger did a "magnificent" job in "Brokeback Mountain". "We both (Damon and Douglas) have a lot of gay friends," he said, "and we were not going to screw this up or bulls**t it."

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