The Blur frontman has hit out at the British government's "callous" viral campaign, which urged creatives to retrain and featured a picture of a Ballerina named Fatima.
The poster, which was quickly retracted, read: “Fatima’s next job could be in cyber. She just doesn’t know it yet.”
And also featured the slogan: “Rethink. Reskill. Reboot.”
The 52-year-old singer was left furious by the campaign and says the government needs to think about how important people's dreams are before shattering them by suggesting they quit their job as a musician or performer, especially amid the coronavirus pandemic, because "undermining" the "human spirit" could have a detrimental impact on people's mental health.
In an interview with The Sun newspaper, Damon fumed: “This retraining nonsense is bordering on callous.
“If someone’s studied ballet or music or theatre, they simply don’t have an option to recalibrate their lives.
“For ballet, they probably started when they were three or four and are totally dedicated to it . . . like footballers or gymnasts.
“Find a new career ‘in cyber’. What does that even mean? It’s ridiculous as well as bad English.
“People’s dreams are as important as their physical health.
“The human spirit is the thing that can sustain us through this. By undermining it, you’ll make people more ill.”
The 'Song 2' hitmaker insisted it's vital that we "take care" of young people if they are going to have a bright future.
He added: “I have to be positive!”
“What else am I to do, lie down and die? That could happen but until it does, I’d like to go out blowing a fanfare for the future and for the young.
“They’re the ones that we need to take care of.
“The whole idea of being a human is to nurture the next generation, not to hold it back.
“To preserve the older generation doesn’t make any sense to me and I’m precariously close to it now."
