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A look back at how our Ben Affleck interview became the viral 'Sad Affleck' meme and the unexpected impact it had on everyone involved. Over Christmas, my wife’s cousin sent me a photo of a Trivial Pursuit question card. It read: “Which actor went viral after being filmed somberly listening to an interview question about a panned superhero film?” The answer, of course, is Ben Affleck. The panned superhero film was Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. And the interviewer who asked the now-infamous question? Dear reader, it was me. Ten years later, my brief moment of virality was back to haunt me. Dubbed Sad Affleck, the clip — a rapid-fire edit of my Yahoo interview with Ben Affleck and Henry Cavill, set to music and uploaded to YouTube — blew up during Easter 2016. Sad Affleck amassed 22 million views over the course of the long weekend, earning mentions on late-night talk shows and birthing a cottage industry of meme merch — including mugs, t-shirts, stickers, and even dresses — before it was swiftly struck down by a copyright claim. Nonetheless, “I think it's fair to definitively state that this was one of the best meme clips of the 2010s,” says one of the top YouTube comments. The copyright claim hasn’t killed off the Sad Affleck meme entirely. In fact, the actor himself isstill talking about it. I, on the other hand, have never shared my side of the story before. I actually find it quite painful to watch that initial interview back. Not many people like the sound of their own voice, and I feel like I come across as being quite awkward, but I think that now enough time has passed to reckon with the fallout So, earlier this year, I called up Sabconth — real name: Kyle Miller — the YouTuber behind the meme, so we could process the immortalized moment together. Timing is everything, they say. And that was certainly the case for the Sad Affleck clip. Crucially, my Yahoo interview with Affleck and his co-star, Henry Cavill, was scheduled to take place the day after Batman v Superman’sreviews were published. They had not been kind. Expectations for the first live-action movie with both Batman and Superman onscreen had been sky-high. What could go wrong? A lot, it turns out. By the time I interviewed him, a small corner of fans had already turned against the idea of Affleck as Batman and were collectively willing the movie to fail. Affleck had previously starred in Daredevil, arguablyone of the worst superhero movies ever made; now, he was replacing Christian Bale as Bruce Wayne. It didn’t sit well with fans in certain online spaces, and they were ready to see Batman v Supermanflop. So the Sad Affleck clip gave these fans the schadenfreude they were looking for. It was in one of those cinephile corners of the internet that Miller first came across the original video of my interview, he tells me. He was part of an online forum where movie fans congregated to discuss reviews of big new movies as they landed, tracking the Rotten Tomatoes and Metacritic scores in real time. The group's members — including Miller — were ready with the popcorn to see what critics thought of Batman v Superman. After my video was posted, “somebody then replied to it, saying, ‘Hello, darkness my old friend,’” Miller explains. “I just got the idea from there. That's all it took. And I made the video in five minutes.” For those unfamiliar, “Hello darkness, my old friend” is the opening line to Simon and Garfunkel’s melancholic 1964 folk hit, “The Sound of Silence.” Miller did a quick edit — slowly zooming in on Affleck’s face as he looks solemnly at the floor — set the clip to the Simon & Garfunkel song, and sent his creation out into the world. ‘This is bigger than I realized’ After uploading the clip to his small YouTube account, Miller forgot about it. He didn’t even share it in the forum that had spawned the idea. The next day, it quickly became clear he had something viral on his hands. “My brother woke me up the following morning and said, ‘Did y

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Donna Kelce home renovation Dakota Johnson campaign Amy & T.J.'s friendship tips Chalamet, ballet and opera Shots fired at Rihanna's home 'Hoppers' wins, 'Bride' bombs Harry Styles's 'SNL' cameo 'Duck Dynasty: The Revival' A viral interview clip sparked backlash from performers, his high school's principal — and even Doja Cat. Timothée Chalamet stumbled at thefinish line of awards season. The Marty Supremeactor, who is considered afrontrunner for best actorat this Sunday’s Academy Awards, is facing backlash after a clip from a recentconversation with Matthew Mc Conaugheysurfaced online. In it, Chalamet appeared to say that “no one cares” about ballet or opera. The remark has been spreading across social media, drawing criticism from arts organizations, performers and even his high school principal. Here’s what happened — and what it could mean for this weekend. Chalamet sat down with his Interstellarcostar at the University of Texas at Austin’s Moody College of Communication on Feb. 21 for a conversation about his career and the movie industry. Part of the conversation focused on the challenges theatrical films have faced in recent years, including the rise of streaming platforms and concerns that social media has shortened audience attention spans. “I admire people — and I've done it myself — who go on a talk show and say, ‘Hey, we've got to keep movie theaters alive, we've gotta keep this genre alive,’” Chalamet said. “And another part of me feels like if people want to see it, like Barbie, like Oppenheimer, they're going to go see it and go out of their way to be loud and proud about it.” He then added, “I don’t want to be working in ballet or opera where it’s like, ‘Hey! Keep this thing alive,’ even though no one cares about this anymore. All respect to the ballet and opera people out there … I just lost 14 cents in viewership. I’m taking shots for no reason.” The comment — specifically the line “no one cares about this anymore” — is what critics have seized on. While the interview took place last month, that snippet began circulating widely late Thursday and gained traction over the weekend. Performing arts institutions responded quickly — many with pointed but measured rebuttals. The Metropolitan Opera posted amontageon March 5 of what goes into one of its work productions, captioning it, “This one’s for you, @tchalamet…” The Boston Ballet saidit was giving Chalamet an “opportunity to change [his] mind.” The English National Opera extended an invitefor free tickets. London’s Royal Ballet and Opera urgedhim to reconsider. The Seattle Opera took a more playful approach, launching a limited-time discount code — “TIMOTHEE” — and adding, “Timmy, you're welcome to use it too 💃.” Individual artists were more direct. Colombian ballet dancer Fernando Montaño shared anopen letter, saying that comparing art forms limits understanding and growth. London-based dancer Anna Yliaho wrotethat “only an insecure artist tears down another discipline to elevate their own.” Mezzo-soprano Isabel Leonard called it “narrow-minded” and a “cheap shot.” Irish opera singer Seán Tester describedthe remarks as “the kind of reductive take you hear when popularity is mistaken for cultural value.” Megan Fairchild, a New York City Ballet principal,leaned intosarcasm, saying, “Timmy, I didn’t realize you were a world-class dancer or opera singer who simply chose not to pursue it because acting is more popular! Ballet and opera aren’t niche hobbies people opt out of for fame. They’re disciplines you can only enter if you have the rare ability for them in the first place.” The controversy made its way to Saturday Night Live, where Colin Jost noted during “Weekend Update” that Chalamet was “being criticized by major opera and ballet organizations after he said that no one cares about those art forms.” His punchline? That the actor “made the comment on a press tour for his movie about ... ping-pong.” More in Entertainment 3 great Apple TV shows

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