Sadfleck or Happyfleck? Ben Affleck became an instant meme after he was spotted looking bored and miserable during the 2023 Grammy Awards on February 5, but the Armageddon star now insists that he wasn’t sad at all

“I had a good time at the Grammys,” Ben, 50, told the Hollywood Reporter one month after going viral, adding that he decided to attend the show with wife Jennifer Lopez because he assumed there would “be good music.” “At movie award shows, it’s speeches and, like, sound-mixing webinars. But I thought this would be fun.” 

Ben went on to say that the moment he saw Grammy host Trevor Noah approaching their table, he knew the newlyweds would be on camera. 

“They were framing us in this shot, but I didn’t know they were rolling. I leaned into [Jen] and I was like, ‘As soon they start rolling, I’m going to slide away from you and leave you sitting next to Trevor,’” he recalled. “She goes, ‘You better f–king not leave.’”

According to the He’s Just Not That Into You actor, there have been times when he attended events he would have rather not been at, but the 2023 Grammy Awards was not one of them. 

“I’ve gone to events and been pissed off. I’ve gone and been bored. I’ve gone to award shows and been drunk, a bunch,” he told the outlet. “Nobody ever once said I’m drunk [those times]. [But at the Grammys] they were like, ‘He’s drunk.’”

Ben – who has been open about his struggles with alcoholism – went on to say he inadvertently “became one of the poster boys for actor alcoholism.”

“[People assuming I was drunk] 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,” he said. “I do think it disincentivizes people from making their lives better.”

While Ben claimed that the internet memes got it wrong, following the show, an insider revealed to In Touch that he was simply “uncomfortable.”

“Ben was on his best behavior as Jen’s date, that’s the only reason he was there,” the insider exclusively told In Touch on February 6. “But it was obvious that he didn’t feel comfortable because all eyes were on him.”

For her part, the “Let’s Get Loud” songstress, 53, took to Instagram that same day to say that she “always [has] the best time” with her husband.

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