Actor Matt Damon clarified that he has never used the “f-slur” after he received backlash over a recent article in which Damon talked about an interaction he had with his daughter. 

“I have never called anyone ‘f—–‘ in my personal life,” he told Variety.

In a recent interview with the Britain’s Sunday Times, the “Stillwater” actor recalled the conversation with his daughter, stating that the two discussed the usage of the slur.

“I made a joke, months ago, and got a treatise from my daughter,” Damon told the Times, according to Variety. “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 interview sparked criticism, with many condemning Damon for seemingly admitting to previously using the anti-LGBT slur.

In a statement to Variety, the actor offered an explanation for why his wording “led many to assume the worst.”

“During a recent interview, I recalled a discussion I had with my daughter where I attempted to contextualize for her the progress that has been made — though by no means completed — since I was growing up in Boston and, as a child, heard the word ‘f–’ used on the street before I knew what it even referred to,” he said.

Damon continued, “I explained that that word was used constantly and casually and was even a line of dialogue in a movie of mine as recently as 2003; she in turn expressed incredulity that there could ever have been a time where that word was used unthinkingly. To my admiration and pride, she was extremely articulate about the extent to which that word would have been painful to someone in the LGBTQ+ community regardless of how culturally normalized it was. I not only agreed with her but thrilled at her passion, values and desire for social justice.”

The Golden Globe winner added that the conversation “was not a personal awakening,” and claimed he does not use “slurs of any kind.”

He ended his statement by affirming his stance on LGBT issues.

“To be as clear as I can be, I stand with the LGBTQ+ community.”