Earlier this year, Ben Affleck became a meme (again).
The actor and his wife, Jennifer Lopez, attended the 65th Grammy Awards in February. And while it was a night of historic firsts (Beyonce, Sam Smith, Kim Petras etc etc) everyone couldn't stop talking about Affleck's... face.
Because the man looked both bored and mad at the fact he had to attend music's night of nights.
Unimpressed, if anything. Image: ET.
At the time, I compiled a list of places the actor would have rather been than the Grammys:
Affleck and JLo also seemed to have a pretty... heated discussion in a clip that quickly went viral online.
During the conversation, Affleck was seen whispering something in JLo's ear before she appeared to jerk away and say something back to her husband.
What is J Lo saying? Jlo and Ben Affleck at the #GRAMMYs Where are my lip readers at?! #jlo #BenAffleck pic.twitter.com/NVJt3yQpFL
— A M A N D A (@BasicCaliBetch) February 6, 2023
Now, over a month and countless internet theories later, Affleck has finally shared what really went down between him and JLo that night.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, the 50-year-old said he actually "had a good time at the Grammys".
"My wife was going, and I thought, 'Well, there’ll be good music. It might be fun'," he told the publication.
However, at one point during the awards show, Grammy host Trevor Noah approached the couple.
"I was like, 'Oh, God'," Affleck recalled.
"They were framing us in this shot, but I didn’t know they were rolling. I leaned into [JLo] and I was like, 'As soon they start rolling, I’m going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor.'"
"You better f***ing not leave," JLo responded, according to Affleck.
"That’s a husband-and-wife thing," he added.
Trevor Noah, JLo and Ben Affleck at the Grammys. Image: Getty/Kevin Mazur.
"I mean, some of it is, I'm like, 'All right, who is this act?' Like, I don’t keep up. My wife does, obviously. And yeah, it is your wife’s work event. And I've gone to events and been pissed off. I’ve gone and been bored," he continued.
"I’ve gone to award shows and been drunk, a bunch. Nobody ever once said I’m drunk. [But at the Grammys] they were like, 'He’s drunk.' And I thought, that’s interesting."
The actor, who has struggled with alcohol abuse in the past, went on to say the incident "raises a whole other thing about whether or not it’s wise to acknowledge addiction because there’s a lot of compassion, but there is still a tremendous stigma, which is often quite inhibiting".
Image: Getty.
As soon as the Grammys clip went viral, people were quick to share their theories about the what the couple may have been talking about online.
Jeremy Freeman, a forensic expert witness lipreader, told Entertainment Tonight that Lopez allegedly urged her husband to "look more friendly" and "motivated".
Apparently, Affleck, who has about as much charm as a paper clip, responded with, "I might."
Lip reader reveals what was said during the tense exchange between Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck that was caught on camera during The Grammys. pic.twitter.com/iWwOGQvMgd
— Mike Sington (@MikeSington) February 7, 2023
A seat filler who worked at the event also posted a TikTok explaining that she had heard some of the pair's conversation because she sat next to Affleck for a small part of the evening.
The TikToker, who goes by the handle @almostannna, confirmed that JLo had shown her husband several memes of himself throughout the night.
@almostannna Replying to @canadiansupernova #greenscreen this is prob the funniest story i have it was so silly. Feeling overhelmed by this attention so im gonna take a break from all of this, i shared the big things and the how-to but all this attention is a lot haha :) I answered all the important questions already, good luck guys! Hear about it more on @hitqldbreakfast tonight! #seatfiller #grammys ♬ Selfcare-demo - Bella Moulden
"JLo showed Ben Affleck the phone and was like, 'Oh my God, honey, look at this meme circulating about you!’ And he was like, 'Oh God, this again.' Like, he knew during the performance that he was a meme," she explained in the TikTok.
"Like, he knew, and he also chose just not to change his expression!" she added. "I love how unbothered that is. So, I know that she was on her phone and saw it and was like, 'Honey, this is so funny, like look at this.' And he was like, 'Jesus Christ'."
JLo later got in on the joke herself when she posted a clip of Affleck's upcoming Nike biopic, Air, on Instagram. At the start of the clip, she zoomed in on Affleck's face and captioned it: "My husband's happy face."
A spokesperson for the couple also released a statement at the time, saying, "Ben and Jen are both aware of the memes of Ben circulating".
"She had shown him a few photos that night and he just brushed it off."
This article was originally published on February 10, 2023, and was updated on March 17, 2023.
Feature Image: Kevin Mazur/Getty/Supplied.
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