Ben Affleck isn’t shy about sharing his opinions, and he has been open about staying off social media because of it. Turns out, the actor knows from experience that he’d be a terrible influencer and would get in trouble online if he tried. To prove that point, the actor admitted he’d been on Instagram twice and totally got banned...twice.
However, he was not banned for a bad reason. This all came up during an interview conducted in the offices of Artists Equity, the company Affleck founded with his best friend Matt Damon. Buried in that conversation with Variety, he shared an oddly wholesome reason why he got kicked off Instagram:
I got banned from Instagram twice for impersonating myself. I had six followers. It was my kids and some of their friends. It was just an excuse for me to look at [my kids’] social media accounts. There used to be a time when everything you said or did wasn’t on the permanent record. As you get older, you become aware of what that means. I experienced the whole world and had a whole life in private. I have a real sense of how valuable that is.
While he's not (or maybe I should say no longer) on Instagram, the actor has experience being the subject of gossip in celebrity magazines, and he continues to be the subject of rumors. He’s definitely a celebrity who is known to be popular tabloid fodder. So, I get why he'd want to keep his Instagram low-key, and I do think it’s endearing that he was banned for simply using his own name. There’s a dad joke in there somewhere.
In the interview, Affleck also addresses how social media has been incorporated into an actor’s persona. This has proven to be especially true over the last few years, with stardom becoming more dependent on social media following. (For example, Dwayne Johnson considers social media to be the most critical part of marketing a project.) However, this isn’t something that Affleck feels is necessary and argues that it doesn’t factor into how he appreciates an actor’s work:
I think Daniel Day-Lewis and Meryl Streep and Viola Davis and Denzel Washington are brilliant actors. It doesn’t help me appreciate their movies to see what they had for lunch. I realize I sound like an old, out-of-touch person, but I believe that as an actor you have to maintain an illusion.
This is reflective of statements Affleck has made before, in which he said that “people don’t want to hear all that much from actors.” This is understandable given how much of his personal life has been made public. He has previously opened up about the low bar the public has for him. Plus, social media is not for everyone, and the Argo star is far from the only actor who doesn’t use it. However, I bet most of the actors who don't have public accounts can't say they've been banned twice.
While Affleck prefers to stay away from Instagram (and apparently the platform doesn't want him), he does see its value and the craft that goes into it. In fact, he stated that both Jennifer Lopez and Jennifer Garner “do amazing jobs cultivating and accruing value in those spaces.”
Now, instead of trying to get back on Instagram, the Good Will Hunting actor has been focused on building his company and creating movies. Currently, his project Animals can be watched with a Netflix subscription, along with The Rip, which came to the streamer in January.
He has yet to announce projects for next year, and don’t expect to find those updates on social media. Although I’m curious if he’d ever try Instagram a third time (and if this would result in him getting banned again).
