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Matt Damon Calls PETA About Attending Bullfight, Wants the Fights Banned

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by Jennifer Mishler November 27, 2011
Categories: Animals, Causes
Tags: .
Photo: Getty Images

The recent news and photos of Matt Damon attending a bullfight in Mexico were bound to get a response from PETA and animal advocates. Animal lovers and Matt Damon fans, rejoice – it turns out the actor didn’t like what he saw at the event and is voicing his support of a bullfighting ban.

When PETA contacted Damon, the actor called the organization back himself to explain. According to the Daily Mail, Damon said he attended the bullfight with friends and his belief that the events should be banned has only gotten stronger.

PETA’s Jane Dollinger said, “We wrote to Matt Damon as soon as pictures of him at a Mexican bullfight surfaced – and within 24 hours, he personally telephoned PETA Vice President Lisa Lange to correct the false impression that he had given. Matt said that he went to the bullfight believing that bullfights should be stopped but felt that he should see the cruelty for himself while he was in Mexico. He said that seeing with his own eyes what these tormented animals go through only reinforced an already strongly held belief that bullfights should be relegated to the history books.”

Good news! Dollinger said, “He also said that he was upset to think that his attendance was in any way construed to be an endorsement of such a barbaric activity.” Okay, so he had us worried there for a minute, but it sounds like the guy behind Water.org’s work to get people safe drinking water is also sticking up for animals.

About Jennifer Mishler

Jennifer is an animal advocate and activist. She is a volunteer coordinator with The Girls Gone Green, a nonprofit organization advocating for animals rights, veganism, and environmentalism. She is also an Onshore Volunteer with the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and a volunteer with CJ Acres Animal Rescue Farm, a nonprofit that rescues and rehabilitates farm animals. Along with writing for Ecorazzi, she writes about veganism and animal rights on her blog, A Dog's Eye View. She lives in Jacksonville, FL with her husband and their three animal friends. Follow Jennifer on Twitter: @jennygonevegan

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  • http://thedailymaul.com The Daily Maul

    Would Matt Damon eat human flesh to reinforce his aversion to cannibalism?

  • Hope

    I don’t believe a word of it. He went and enjoyed it. I am disgusted.

    • http://herwinsvegancafe.blogspot.com/ herwin

      +1. The guy just did go with his buddies to have a good time and see an animal cruelty spectacle that is illegal in his own country. Shame on you, Mat ! You are no better than Vick ! Two peas in the same pot !

      @ Jenny. You did win the bet after all. Congrats. :-)

      • Jennifer Mishler

        Thanks! Last-minute win, but still a win!

  • Dale

    OMG … Jason Bourne needs to grow a pair!
    Who in the hell cares what those PETA whack jobs think?
    If everybody would just respect each others rights and stop worrying about this “PC” crap we would all be better off.
    Being an American should entitle you to a steak, fur coat, hunting, rodeo, circus, or bullfight.
    This extreme liberal agenda has done this country no favors.

    • http://herwinsvegancafe.blogspot.com/ herwin

      hold it buddy, animal rights and animal cruelty isnt a liberal issue. Plenty of conservatives who are animal right activists and even vegan , and plenty of liberals who, just like you, feel threatened by the idea of having some respect for animals.

      And hey, Adolf Hitler is a vegetarian, right ? Pretty confusing world, eh, nazis being vegetarian and liberals being Peta bashers.

      How is your stance on dogfights ? And should any true american be entitled to slap or kick his dog if he feels the urge to do so ? Are you against ANY animal cruelty law ?

      • http://infamous.net Tom Swiss

        herwin — no, Hitler was not a vegetarian, he loved liver dumplings and stuffed squab. And in fact the Nazis outlawed several vegetarian societies.

        http://www.vegsource.com/news/2010/03/why-hitler-was-not-a-vegetarian.html

        Not to say that one can’t be both a vegetarian and an authoritarian asshole, but the Hitler thing is simply wrong. Please stop spreading this myth.

      • http://herwinsvegancafe.blogspot.com/ herwin

        @Tom Swiss.
        yah, so he aint veg, so is Leonardo da Vince, a well known vivisectioner, Edison, electrocutioner of many animals including an elephant, and many other famous people..

    • s

      So “growing a pair” means going along with everyone else? I think “growing a pair” is better demonstrated by men who see injustice and speak out against it. Being American has no correlation with abusing animals and supporting the abuse of animals. I’m sure you cheer on Michael Vick too. I have no doubt. I think YOU need to grow a pair.

    • don_miguelo

      Well said, ‘herwin’ and ‘s’!! I was going to go with this: Maybe Matt would grow a pair but doesn’t because he knows his handlers would then stick a needle in them (as they do the bulls). Maybe Dale would like to go thru what a bull goes thru and then post about how PC it really is.

    • Whoever…

      @ Dale

      Seriously!? Seriously!?

      You need to grow a brain… typical american arrogant!

      “If everybody would just respect each others rights and stop worrying about this “PC” crap we would all be better off.
      Being an American should entitle you to a steak, fur coat, hunting, rodeo, circus, or bullfight.
      This extreme liberal agenda has done this country no favors.”

      Interesting…

      So what about if your imperialistic country would start respecting other countries’ rights by leaving them alone and stop invading them under the excuse of the so called terrorism when all you really want is to steal their resources and have a geostrategic position in a determined region?

      What about if your troops (= mercenaries on the payroll of the US military industrial complex) would stop murdering millions of people worldwide? They are no heroes and they’re not risking their lives to keep you safe! Wake up! The money your country wastes on ‘defense’ would solve all your problems in no time! Think about that!

      And what about if your ‘evil’ corporations such as Monsanto (which is stealing other countries’ natural and ancestral seeds by ‘buying’ the patent of those same seeds and forcing their people to buy GMO from them!!), MacDonald’s, KFC, Burger King and all of those corporations which sell junk food and are fattening other countries’ peoples making them look like you fat American ignorants would just leave us alone?

      Oh, and you like individual rights do you Dale boy!? I would love to have the right to see ignorant and not very evolved people like you disappear from the face of the earth!

      “This extreme liberal agenda has done this country no favors.”

      This coming from someone who lives in a country where if you don’t have money or a medical insurance you can die at the entrance of a hospital and no one will save you!!

      If I didn’t know the real truth behind 9/11 (clearly an inside job which only the ‘blind’ don’t want to see) I would say the USA deserves a couple more 9/11s so you would stop being so damn arrogant!!

      No one has the right to inflict pain on another living creature whether they are humans or non-humans!!!

    • Jen

      I think that the mistreatment of animals for entertainment or becase it “tastes good” is what everyone is concerned about. Not “this extreme liberal agenda”. How can we “respect each others rights” and then mistreat an aniaml for pleasure. It doesn’t make any sense. If I am stronger and smarter than you, then am I entitled to confine you, mistreat you, then slaughter you because I think you would taste delicious smothered in bbq sauce.

  • rat king

    There seems to be some controversy in this – but if he means really what he says he should do an anti-bullfight ad for Peta – and I shall like his face again!!!

  • Charmaine

    I personally know Matt from my neighborhood,summer-camp and went to high school with his brother and he has always been ( and his family ) good honest,do the right thing kind of people. I am also surprised like he was that people would think that he would endorse such a thing as bull-fighting. My first thought when i read that he attended a bullfight was that he felt he should see for himself what really goes on there and to feel the whole scene and situation to know as much about it as he can in order to know where to start or which angle to come from in boycotting it. I am also surprised at the radical, teeth-baring comments here and feel that we should ALWAYS give people the benefit of the doubt with love in our hearts because what you give is what you get back.Just because you’ve gone green or are vegetarian does not give you the right to stand on a soap box and call someone dirty when you think you see someone rolling in the mud like a pig. maybe they are just seeing what it’s like to be a pig. :)

    • Gerry

      @Charmaine
      Spot on, enhorabuena as we say lol…..although I dont think he was thinking about a way or angle to consider boycotting it, I actually think that he just wanted to see what this hoopla is all about, “Bullfight? hmm ok sure lets go check it out”, was probably his answer, I dont think he had any idea that him going would cause so much negative feed back, and lashing…

  • Gerry

    LMAO, If he didn’t like what he saw he should have left after the first bull, but instead he stayed all the way thru 6 bulls being tormented! OMG

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Donna-Oakes/1050113563 Donna Oakes

    I wish that Matt Damon would have simply looked at the photos of bullfighting taken by the amazing Jo-Anne McArthur on the weanimals.org website: http://weanimals.org/

  • cath

    hmmmm, pretty lame excuse. One doesn’t have to engage in child pornography to know that maybe this is not a great idea. Anyone with any amount of knowhow, can click onto any number of sites and learn what goes on with bull-fighting – things that the bullfighting community won’t deny. That should be bad enough …but to go, to pay for a ticket and to be seen to endorse it…sorry, that’s not the best or cleverst thing to do if you are against it.

  • Jason Damon

    How much money did PETA convince Matt Damon to cough up to repent his sins? Money making for PETA is all this is now…

  • http://www.newtechgroups.com Sudhir Sajwan

    Bullfight should be banned immediately it is cruel towards voiceless animals.

  • snowisfun

    As a vegetarian, I have no problem if they outlaw bullfighting. With bullfighting, they do eat the beef. I lived in Spain from 1981-84 & some of the beef is from the bullfights. If you want bullfighting to disappear, then the best way to do it is not eat beef. Most Spaniards don’t have an interest in bullfighting-soccer is Spain’s sport. But what I’d like to know is how many of the people opposed to bullfighting are vegetarians or @least don’t eat beef? I’m not defending bullfighting, but @least they do eat what they kill.

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