Amanda Knox has criticised Matt Damon after the actor suggested that some people who have been “cancelled” might prefer a prison sentence to the lasting stigma of public ostracism. Damon made the comments on a recent episode of Joe Rogan’s podcast, saying jail time is finite while cancel culture “will follow you to the grave.”
Sharing a clip on X, Knox wrote: “Another thing Matt Damon could have run by me before putting out into the world.” Knox was wrongfully convicted of murdering her British flatmate Meredith Kercher in 2007 and spent nearly four years in an Italian prison before being acquitted.
In a reply, Knox rejected the idea that prison is a neat endpoint: “You don’t get to go to prison in secret. It comes with its own stigma and lasting trauma. You don’t just get to ‘be done with it,’ personally or socially.”
Journalist Katherine Brodsky argued that some cancelled individuals might indeed prefer 18 months in jail to endless reputational damage, but Knox countered: “People commit suicide in prison, too.”
The row is not the first between Knox and Damon. In 2021, Knox criticised Damon’s film Stillwater, which was inspired by her case, saying it drew unfair conclusions that she was involved in the murder. She said: “Matt Damon and the director can walk away with a great story, but I’m still living with the consequences.”
