Matt Damon Going on Toilet Strike—to Raise Awareness About Clean Water Access

Matt Damon fans, are you sitting down? Because if you are, then you're gonna want to stand up after hearing this—in solidarity

By Josh Grossberg Feb 12, 2013 7:00 PMTags

Matt Damon's holding out on us. Literally.

The actor and activist has announced he's going on a "toilet strike:" That is, he's refraining from going No. 1—or No. 2 for that matter—with the aim of raising awareness of the 2.5 billion people around the world who do not have access to clean water and sanitation.

Of course, the actor said all this in a very tongue-in-cheek fashion, but Damon declared his supposed intentions at a humorous faux press conference, a three-minute video of which was released Tuesday by the nonprofit he cofounded, Water.org.

"In protest of this global tragedy, until this issue is resolved, until everybody has access to clean water and sanitation, I will not go to the bathroom," he declared.

Why target the toilet? We'll let The Rainmaker star explain.

"Does anybody have any idea what invention has saved more lives than any other in the history of humankind? The toilet," Damon said in the clip, answering his own question. "More people have cell phones than toilets."

The goal of the comedic video is to help launch a viral campaign to draw attention to what is an extremely serious issue, and the 42-year-old thesp is planning to make appearances on a number of YouTube vloggers' channels to spread the word about his strike and get an online conversation going about the global water shortage.

To support Matt and his bathroom break as well as donate to the cause, visit StrikeWithMe.org.