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Thank You Matt Damon: Twitter Users Roast And Toast Actor For ‘The Great Wall’

By Bernadette Giacomazzo
Published on: 05:04 PST, Feb 17, 2017

The Great Wall, starring Matt Damon, just came out in theaters, but Twitter has already rendered its verdict on both the film and its most famous star with the Thank You Matt Damon Twitter trending topic.

According to Fusion, the “Thank You Matt Damon” Twitter trending topic started because Damon — who is the only non-Asian actor in the film — was cast as a European mercenary who was sent to China to save the country from (CGI-based) demons. This, of course, pushes the old “white Savior” trope that today’s multi-cultural society is desperate to get away from.

And the trending topic didn’t excoriate Damon simply because he was cast in a role, but because he’d denied that he was part of the problem for so long.

“[The whitewashing news] suddenly becomes a story because people click on it, versus the traditional ways that a story would get vetted before it would get to that point. It’s a monster movie and it’s a historical fantasy and I didn’t take a role away from a Chinese actor … it wasn’t altered because of me in any way.”

For what it’s worth, however, the director of the film thinks that the “Thank You Matt Damon” Twitter trending topic has a lot of misguided anger directed towards the actor, who — according to the director — means well.

According to Vulture, Zhang Yimou has been working overtime to defend his film from the white-washing accusations, and he’s quick to point out that Matt Damon had nothing to do with the casting decisions, nor did he ever say anything derogatory about Asian people.

“In many ways The Great Wall is the opposite of what is being suggested. For the first time, a film deeply rooted in Chinese culture, with one of the largest Chinese casts ever assembled, is being made at tent pole scale for a world audience. I believe that is a trend that should be embraced by our industry. Our film is not about the construction of the Great Wall. Matt Damon is not playing a role that was originally conceived for a Chinese actor. The arrival of his character in our story is an important plot point. There are five major heroes in our story and he is one of them — the other four are all Chinese.”

Of course, according to Buzzfeed, that hasn’t stopped Twitter users from taking to the “Thank You Matt Damon” to roast and toast the actor with some of the most savage insults ever committed to the Internet.

The trending topic started thanks to Asian comedian Jenny Yang, who attended the premiere and sarcastically tweeted her thanks to Matt Damon for saving her people.

This, ultimately, kicked off a series of insults towards the actor.

As savage as some of these “Thank You Matt Damon” tweets are, we also have to admit that they’re absolutely hilarious.

What’s your take on the whole “Thank You Matt Damon” brouhaha?

[Featured Image by Kevin Winter/Getty Images]

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