Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas were seen in Venice, California yesterday at a march for George Floyd. Ben held a sign that read “Save First Baptist Church of Venice,” although I doubt it was his. The photo was taken and posted by Save Venice, a community organization dedicated to saving the historic Black church, established in 1910 and sold by the pastor a private owner in 2017. The group is using legal means to gain control of the church and have it declared an Historic-Cultural Monument. By having Ben Affleck hold that sign, they just got so much publicity for their cause. I’m pretty sure that small notebook page with Black Lives Matter on it is theirs, and no disrespect for that. I am not crafty and usually just print something out on my computer and paste it to a bigger poster board.
Anna initially posted this to her Instagram, with a blackout square and she did use the right tag, #BlackOutTuesday. Incidentally, activists are urging people not to use the #BlackLiveMatter as it drowns out more important causes and calls to action. It’s awesome that they came out and protested.
The activist who met Affleck and took the photo, Sarah Mahir, spoke to ET Online. She had just got done making a speech about the need to save the church and that she “turned around and Ben Affleck was standing there. [He] graciously agreed to take a photo and possibly keep in touch with us.”
A source gave a quote to People about it that “Ben wants to continue to be a model for his children. They talk about these important issues.” Also E! has a bunch of quotes, they posted them last week and I’m just seeing them now, about how sweet Ana is with Ben’s kids and how she keeps him sober. At least his people parceled them out and didn’t blanket the press with these, but they’re cheesy. Here’s what they said:
“She supports his sobriety and has really helped him stay on track,” the insider says. “She is loving, caring and fun. They are always laughing and making each other smile. Ben is extremely happy with her…Everything seems to work between them, and it’s been a long time since he has fallen hard like this.”
“Ana loves kids and couldn’t wait to meet them and spend time with them,” the insider said. “She knows how much they mean to Ben and so she was anxious to be a part of that. She is very sweet and kind to the kids. They immediately warmed up to her and like her a lot. They are all comfortable together and she’s very nurturing. Everything has worked out very well.”
Affleck is “fully present for his family.”
This is all so calculated, right? As for the protest, Ana wore a mask in the photo but Ben didn’t. (Update: supposedly he has a mask on in video from the protest.)
Here are photos of Ben and Ana on his motorcycle yesterday. I do think they rode it to the protest because in the photo Ana has her jacket tied around her waist. No wonder they had a small sign.
Photos credit: Backgrid and via Save Venice/Instagram
There’s video on Twitter of Ben at the protest wearing a mask so presumably he took it off for the photo.
The dead twitter link on Ana’s twitter feed is because she reposted the black square without the BLM hashtag. She didn’t post about them at the protest.
He looks so much healthier than he did a year ago. Thought his days of dirtbag hotness were behind him.
Ok I’ll edit that title, thanks.
Seriously, what is it with men and masks? I live in Brooklyn, in a neighbourhood where almost everyone (I’d say about 90-95%) wear masks outside of their homes. The people not wearing masks? Almost exclusively men.
Stop, just stop with turning this into all men don’t wear masks, hating on all men.
There was no “hating on all men”. They pointed out that of the people they’ve seen not wearing masks, they’re almost all men. It was an observation in support of a larger pattern.
Jenner, research shows that men are less likely to wear the damn mask because they would feel less masculine. We don’t hate on all men, we are just pointing out a reality
Lol, poor menz. The hatred! A trend about masks was observed on a gossip site.
In San Francisco, the majority of non-mask wearers I’ve seen are male also. All ages.
By the way, Ben was wearing a mask in the video posted on SM. Just not in this picture.
I’m all for protesting. Good for anyone who makes it out. But please remember there is still a deadly virus out there. Wear a mask and try to keep a distance from others. On the news I am seeing many with masks but also many without. They are hugging, screaming, etc. This is not good. I guess we’ll see in about 14 days how this will affect the infection rates across America.
She’s a young celeb and works w a stylist (Karla Welch) for red carpet events… why oh why does she dress so horribly on the daily???
Btw, she is not responsible for his sobriety! Why do publications still print that sexist crap?
Y’all give him a lot of grief, but there’s a long list of Hollywood dudes, just like him, who should be out in these streets and they aren’t. He’s sober, he’s engaged with his kids, he’s with a woman who openly support both things. And together they support larger causes, publicly, while the rest of them are where?
I think if they hadn’t been so incredibly thirsty for attention for weeks now people would have been less sceptical. It’s hard not to feel a twinge of…hmmmmm.
It is nice definitely, but he’s not unique. Assuming we are not talking about Black stars (who have been out in legion) I’ve seen pictures of Ariana Grande, Timothee Chalamet, Pedro Pascal, Kevin Smith, Fiona Apple, John Cusack, Cole Sprouse (got arrested), Shawn Mendes, Kristen Stewart, and those are just the ones I remember off the top of my head. So it’s definitely not a bad thing he’s there, but “while the rest of them are where?” is a bit too generous.
Ana’s been called out on her Instagram post and by her stan account that she basically did nothing…
I’m glad that they’re aware enough not to pull their usual love pap fest and went to a protest though
I’m looking at all the white dudes playing super hero at $20 milliion a pop. The Dude Bro’s of Hollywood. It’s time for all of them to put their money and their celebrity where their mouth is.
And what have the people calling her out done?
You know, this is on white people. All of us. We should all (mostly) be donating. I totally realize some really cannot, but generally speaking I mean. Throw in five bucks. throw in a buck! Do you know how that adds up? After are there are hundreds of millions of non celebrities.
But I guess it’s easy to just virtue signal for all your friends by “calling out” a celebrity on insta. Who’s clout building?
@ darla, we are on a gossip blog called celebitchy, what do you expect?
I’m not going to hate on him for this…at least he showed up. We need all the allies we can get. Kudos to him and what’s her face for using their pap stroll for good.
People are starting to complain that no movie stars are at these protests. The WAPO even has an entire piece on it today. I personally don’t think you can judge harshly because we are in a pandemic, and they have parents who may be at risk too. Not to mention, some are at risk themselves. But it’s being talked about.
I think what Ben and Ana did is fantastic personally. Good for them.
Yeah I’m beyond uncomfortable with the “call out because I haven’t seen them at a protest” thing. I haven’t been to any of the solidarity marches (I’m Canadian) because I have asthma and there’s a deadly pandemic and, well, frankly I don’t want to die when my presence at a march of thousands will make negligible difference. Some stars cannot and should not be marching for their or their family’s health reasons, and yes, some don’t want to. I’m not going to waste time adjudicating that. There’s bigger issues here.
Agree.
I’m sorry but a total PR move. The legal funds to help support the church are $15k, he was in DM the other day looking at a place in Venice for $9+million. A quote from People on the same day too? Reputation clout.
And then you have this here. So, damned if they do damned if they do not? I said last week, I wouldn’t want to be famous right now. Well, I never would want to be famous, but seriously, they are being watched like hawks. First it was about putting out statements, and once they did, each statement was scrutinized for any tiny mistake so people could scream “CANCELLED!”. Now they are being pressured to go outiside and stand with thousands in crowded spaces during a pandemic. When one of them does that, someone comes along to screech “TOTAL PR MOVE, NOT IMPRESSED!”.
Yeah, they get a lot of perks don’t get me wrong, but man I so do not have the personality type for this stuff.
Watched like hawks? They have been parading around for the last 3 months. It’s not just about being seen, it’s about taking action. A hashtag and a photo doesn’t cut it in the real world. Even if he gets some good write ups, and a source happens to appear hours after in People support it.
Agree with you Darla – damned if they do, damned if they don’t. A celeb who has never been politically active suddenly posting about this would be deemed opportunistic. A celeb who is politically active and who posts about this gets accused of not doing enough.
I also assume there are celebs who are quietly donating money or lending support in other ways and not drawing attention to themselves. I saw a few fan pics of Harry Styles with his face covering in the midst of a crowd. He’s not out there just to be seen or make himself look good. If no fan pics had been posted, we wouldn’t know he was there. Would he be criticized for not supporting because he didn’t advertise himself?
The last time Ben was concerned with Black Lives, was trying to get his slave-owning family history removed for a TV show.
Totally agree with you. A lot of people are cancelling celebrities bc they’re not publicly donating, out in protests, posting, etc. RDJ is getting reamed on Instagram for his Blackout Tuesday post. Most people are saying, “oh they’re only doing this to look good.” Maybe he donated money privately? We don’t know. I would also hate to be a celebrity right now. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.
RDJ, Downey you mean? Wow really. Well, that’s a man who IMO should NOT be out during Covid. As far as donations, a lot of people don’t like to publicize those, it’s bragging. I did notice that Evans tweeted that he donated, which is something I don’t think I’ve seen him do previously, so he must have saw that coming.
Sorry, I just don’t think this is an effective use of time. Actors seriously aren’t the problem, come on now. Some are clueless, some are very stupid, but beautiful and sometimes talented. So what? We know who the real targets are.
You know, calling out a celebrity can ALSO be considered “virtue signaling”. So…
@Darla You realize ‘virtue signalling’ is an endless loop. It could be said about your comments too.
oh martina, how sad. MY point was that virtue signaling is a loop, cuts both ways, and anyone can be accused of it. so you basically just copied my post like you were teaching me, who wrote it, something. I’d say good job, but…
Instead of calling out actors, how about people go after the head of the major studios? directors? casting directors? you know, those who make way more decisions in Hollywood than the actor.
Darla, I think you’ve made a good point here.
How very interesting that you are really bending over backwards to defend them.
@Darla I must have missed the part you mentioned you were ‘virtue signalling’ too…
Good for them. At the same time, now it’s not safe for him to see his kids for two weeks because he’s been in a huge group of people.
I’m 1000% behind the message of these protests. If I felt like it were safe to be among a bunch of people right now I’d be out there too. But I’m genuinely very concerned about how the virus will spread because of this. It’s easy to forget about the pandemic when there’s so much unrest, but…there’s still a pandemic. People like Ben can help by using his platform and putting his money where his mouth is.
This is me. I am very used to being out there. I thought I had put away my protest days, the peak of which were during the W Iraq war years. But I did go to DC to protest Trump putting babies in cages. I make exceptions. Oh I went to JFK to protest his Muslim ban too, my god that seems like decades ago now, doesn’t it? But man I’m scared of the Covid, I can’t. But every night I watch this, and I think, well, maybe I can? I think our numbers are going to jump too. It’s very worrying.
Good for them. Hope they are also donating.
The story of what’s happening with that church is so sad, I hope they are able to fight the sale and retain it for history. So for once I will say kudos to Ben Affleck, without seeing him holding that sign, I would not have known what is happening there. I hope he helps them financially as well, they have a small, very reasonable fundraising goal.
If they weren’t doing pap strolls twice a day, their joining the protests would have so much more significance. Now it seems like a PR stunt.
Shallow Note:
Her pants look like mom jeans from behind
I’ll join you. I think she has the absolute worst taste in pants. Just awful.
I think people now are afraid to even go on a peaceful protest. Alot of these peaceful protests have been hijacked by people who have been paid to riot, loot, & burn businesses. Add to that there is a pandemic that is still going on & people are not social distancing & some aren’t even wearing masks. California is far from out of the woods from this & it will be interesting to see if there are any spikes in the virus not only in California but also the other states.
Once again, Ben has been out in crowds & probably should stay away from his children for their safety. Ben makes poor decisions in his life & he will maybe realize that some day.
( Alot of Hollywood have children & I think they have put their children first & foremost…
So People mag fell upon a quote from a friend after this. What a surprise. More coordination from Afflecks camp.
Eh, they didn’t post about attending on social media and weren’t photographed by paparazzi. People got the quote after the photo was all over social media. Would it have been better for Ben to refuse the photo to raise awareness of the church?
I didn’t mention the photo, I mentioned that Ben’s camp happily sent a quote to People for them to add to the piece. #thirsty
This is all about PR for them, no doubt. It’s opportunistic and all about rebuilding ben’s image while boosting Ana’s presence in Hollywood.
He’s been vocal about politics and social justice his entire career.
is a for Ana?
Ben has ALWAYS been down for Black folks…for YEARS…just Google…I ADORE Ben and champion his sobriety….PERIOD!
Not sure why ppl are having an issue with this. More celebs should be at these protests anyway…good for them.
God whatever. He is just as tone deaf as Hugh Jackman just in a different way.