Matt Damon Does ALS Ice Bucket Challenge Using Toilet Water, Nominates George Clooney—Watch Now!

Water.org co-founder didn't want to waste clean water, so he found a compromise

By Rebecca Macatee Aug 26, 2014 7:32 PMTags

If you've ever been given a swirly, take heart: Matt Damon's had toilet water all over his head, too!

The Oscar winner chose this fate, though, in response to Ben Affleck and Jimmy Kimmel nominating him for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge! But why did Matt pour cold toilet water all over himself—as opposed to just dousing himself with cold water from the tap?

The challenge, he said, "posed kind of a problem for me, not only because there's a drought here in California, but also because I co-founded Water.org." Because "not everybody has access to a clean drink of water—there are about 800 million people in the world who don't," Matt said that "dumping a clean bucket of water over my head seemed a little crazy."

Water.org is also striving "to bring adequate sanitation to the 2.4 billion people on planet earth who don't have it," the father of four explained, he thought "a good thing to do to tie those things together" would be to use toilet water in his ALS Ice Bucket Challenge.

In the YouTube video, you can see Matt actually scooping water out of a toilet bowl. "This is truly toilet water," he says. "I've been collecting it from various toilets around the house!"

He admitted some people—including wife Luciana Barroso—might find the idea of dumping toilet water over one's head "disgusting," but he reminded us that "toilet water in the West is actually cleaner than drinking water in most developing countries."

"Hopefully this will highlight the fact that this is a big problem," he said, "and together we can do something about it."

Then, without further ado, he made good on his promise, telling Ben and Jimmy, "This is for you guys," before dumping the toilet water on his head!

And who did he nominate to take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge? "George Clooney, my favorite actor," he said. along with "Bono, my favorite musician, and Tom Brady, the greatest quarterback of all time."

Good luck, fellas!