Connect with us

Arts & Entertainment

Kevin Smith apologizes for Ben Affleck ‘gay kiss’ story

the director also sent an apology to Evan Rachel Wood

Published

on

(Screenshot via Facebook Live.)

Kevin Smith has apologized for sharing an old remark Ben Affleck made about filming a same-sex kiss during the 1997Ā film, “Chasing Amy.”

While speaking at Outfest in Los Angeles over the weekend, Smith recalled Affleck saying kissing another man is an actor’s “greatest” challenge and made him a “serious actor.”

Many were offended by the alleged comments including Evan Rachel Wood who sent a series of tweets slamming Affleck.

“Try getting raped in a scene, Also, grow up Ben,” Wood tweeted.

In an 11-minute Facebook Live video, Smith apologized for rehashing the story and said the comment was said in private.Ā He also attributed the natureĀ of the conversation to age. At the time, Affleck was 23 and Smith, who directed the film, was 26.

“Of course, Affleck doesn’t feel that way today and who knows if he even felt that way then? But he could’ve, he was in his 20s. We all say goofy s— in our f—ing 20s,” Smith says. “But it wasn’t something he went out into the world and talked about. It was something he said to me.”

“My intention in telling that story was good,ā€™ Smith added. “It was not even a ‘Look how far weā€™ve come,’ although thatā€™s in there. It was just like kids in their 20s, right.Ā It was something that was said literally 21 years ago and not in the context of like homophobic or anything like that. It was just a different world and [the story] was adorable.”

Smith went on to apologize to Wood saying, Ā “Please, someone tell Evan Rachel Wood for me, my apologies. Sheā€™s mad at something that I said and I didnā€™t even say that, I mean, it was out of context and stuff like that.”

The director also apologized to Affleck and says the two don’t speak anymore but he feels “terrible” that the story was taken out of context.

“Whenever people ask me, ‘Hey, howā€™s Ben.’ I put it out in the press, Iā€™m like, ‘I havenā€™t spoken to him in years,'” Smith says. “So I donā€™t pretend to a relationship we donā€™t have any more or anything, but fu*k do I feel terrible.”

Advertisement
FUND LGBTQ JOURNALISM
SIGN UP FOR E-BLAST

Celebrity News

More than 1 million people attend Madonna concert in Rio

Free event took place on Copacabana Beach on Saturday

Published

on

Madonna performs on Rio de Janeiro's Copacabana Beach on May 4, 2024. (Screen capture via Reuters YouTube)

An estimated 1.6 million people on Saturday attended Madonna’s free concert on Rio de Janeiro’s Copacabana Beach.

The concert, which was the last one as part of Madonna’s Celebration Tour, included a tribute to people lost to AIDS.

Bob the Drag Queen introduced Madonna before the concert began. Pabllo Vittar, a Brazilian drag queen and singer, and Anitta, a bisexual pop star who was born in Rio’s HonĆ³rio Gurgel neighborhood, also joined Madonna on stage.

Congresswoman Erika Hilton, a Black travesti and former sex worker, and Rio Municipal Councilwoman MĆ“nica BenĆ­cio, the widow of Marielle Franco, a bisexual Rio Municipal Councilwoman who was assassinated in 2018, are among those who attended the concert.

“Madonna showed that we fight important fights for the human rights of Black (people), young (people), women and LGBTQIA+ people, and against all injustice, discrimination, and violence,” saidĀ AssociaƧao Nacional de Travestis e Transexuais (National Association ofĀ TravestisĀ and Transsexuals), a Brazilian trans rights group known by the acronym ANTRA, on itsĀ X account.Ā “What they call identitarianism’ is our subversion to the retrograde and conservative tackiness that plagues the country.”

The Associated Press reported the concert was Madonna’s biggest ever.

Continue Reading

Photos

PHOTOS: Gay Day at the Zoo

Smithsonian observs International Family Equality Day

Published

on

Gay Day at the Zoo (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The DC Center for the LGBTQ Community, SMYAL and Rainbow Families sponsored Gay Day at the Zoo on Sunday at the Smithsonian National Zoo. The Smithsonian observed International Family Equality Day with special exhibits and an event space.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Continue Reading

Photos

PHOTOS: Taste of Point

Annual fundraiser held for LGBTQ youth scholarship, mentorship organization

Published

on

Taste of Point DC (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The Point Foundation held its annual Taste of Point fundraiser at Room & Board on May 2.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

Continue Reading
Advertisement
Advertisement

Sign Up for Weekly E-Blast

Follow Us @washblade

Advertisement

Popular