Ben Affleck’s back tattoo is almost something of myth, something which has been decried as fake, but something everybody has been dying to see.
The myth began a few years ago, around the same time that Affleck split up with his wife Jennifer Garner, but Affleck told everyone the tattoo was for a new film he was in and that it wasn’t even real.
Well, these pictures of Affleck, captured by Backgrid UK, and other burly men of Hollywood frolicking at the beach suggest otherwise.
Backgrid Exclusive! It's real! @BenAffleck reveals his large phoenix back tattoo! Thoughts? ?#BenAffleck https://t.co/BKLdd5Aw69 pic.twitter.com/1ikQ1hk2IX
— Backgrid (@BackgridUK) March 22, 2018
Joining Affleck at the beach for his time in the sun was Charlie Hunnam, Oscar Isaac and Garrett Hedlund, PopSugar report.
The actors were photographed in Hawaii while prepping for their new Netflix movie Triple Frontier, but took some time off to go snorkelling.
I mean, look at the tattoo, it’s an absolute beast of a thing, and not in a good way.
People on Twitter have obviously been rinsing the guy for his poor taste in body art, and in fairness it’s hard to disagree with what’s being said.
Ben Affleck's back tattoo is, and I'm saying this without hyperbole, one of the funniest goddamn things I've ever seen in my entire life. Holy moly. What a wonderful gift to all of us this is. Truly a great day to be alive because of this obscenely dumb tattoo. (via @people) pic.twitter.com/8LtvmF1Z5h
— Dashiell Driscoll (@dashiell) March 19, 2018
In 2016, even Jennifer Garner went in about the tat, telling Vanity Fair:
You know what we would say in my hometown about that? ‘Bless his heart’.
A phoenix rising from the ashes. Am I the ashes in this scenario? I take umbrage. I refuse to be the ashes.
Jennifer Lopez – who was actually previously engaged to Affleck – didn’t hold back either, saying on Watch What Happens Live with Andy Cohen:
It’s awful! What are you doing? His tattoos always have too many colours, they shouldn’t be so colourful.
They should be cooler.
People on social media have been equally as damning about the ink, calling it incredibly ‘big and ugly’.
One user wrote:
Next time you’re feeling sad, remember that you’re not Ben Affleck so you (probably) don’t have a tattoo so big and so ugly and so universally ridiculed that you had to lie and say it was only temporary and just for a movie when it is so clearly not.
Ben Affleck: The phoenix tattoo is fake for a movie.
Also Ben Affleck: pic.twitter.com/k97oa0ld12
— Sarah (@Cinesnark) March 16, 2018
Another said:
Ben Affleck’s back tattoo is, and I’m saying this without hyperbole, one of the funniest goddam things I’ve ever seen in my entire life.
Holy Moly. What a wonderful gift to all of us this is. Truly a great day to be alive because of this obscenely dumb tattoo.
A few years ago, Affleck did try and tell people that the tattoo was fake, and that it was for a movie.
I’ve been following the Ben Affleck back tattoo drama more closely than the Mueller investigation.
— Sophia Benoit (@1followernodad) March 18, 2018
He told Extra’s Mario Lopez:
[it’s] fake for a movie. I actually do have a number of tattoos but I try to have them in place where you don’t have to do a lot of cover up they get sort of addictive, tattoos, after a while.
The tattoo even rekindled the Jennifer Garner meme from the Oscars, in which she clearly looks surprised at the fact the ink isn’t actually fake.
after little to no deliberation, I'm ready to announce that i kind of like Ben Affleck's stupid tattoo
— Nikki Glaser (@NikkiGlaser) March 20, 2018
It’s pretty sad for Ben Affleck that the entire world is rinsing his tattoo, but at the end of the day you have to think about these things before you get them engrained on your body otherwise you’ll learn the hard way.
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