10 of Ben Affleck's Most Controversial Moments: From Inappropriately Touching Hilarie Burton to His Blackjack Scandal

Ben Affleck starred in the 1997 film Chasing Amy, where he was supposed to kiss Jason Lee in one scene. According to Kevin Smith, the move was nixed due to Affleck's comment at the time.

"A man kissing another man is the greatest acting challenge an actor can ever face ... Now I'm a serious actor," Affleck reportedly told Smith at the time.

While Smith clarified his comment during a Facebook Live, the public started lambasting the Justice League actor for being homophobic — something he denied in his interview with Entertainment Tonight.

"I guess I am, more than I thought, in that, you know, it was just difficult for me, and I didn't think it would be," he stated.

In 2003, Affleck appeared in an interview with Hilarie Burton on MTV's Total Request Live, during which he groped the One Tree Hill actor.

When The Way Back star slammed Harvey Weinstein amid the sexual harassment and abuse issue in 2017, Burton criticized Affleck and said she did not forget the incident.

"Girls. I'm so impressed with you brave ones. I had to laugh back then so I wouldn't cry. Sending love," Burton added in the tweet.

Meanwhile, Affleck wrote a statement on X, then Twitter, after Burton's update, saying, "I acted inappropriately toward Mrs. Burton and I sincerely apologize."

One year after Affleck's interview with Burton, the Gigli actor had a similar controversial moment during his interview with Canadian TV star Anne-Marie Losique while promoting Jersey Girl.

"You usually show a lot more cleavage than this. What's the story? They would like the show better if you did it topless, wouldn't they?" Affleck asked Losique before pulling her into his lap.

He also fondled the interviewer's chest at one point and called them two giant stones.

Affleck added, "All you want to do is have s--. You don't want to talk. You don't want to hold me. It hurts my feelings."

After the video resurfaced over a decade later, Losique defended Affleck and explained how the video was reportedly taken out of context.

"You have to understand that we have done dozens and dozens of interviews like that. It was for a show I was producing, so I was not at all a victim," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "When the cameras rolled, we would start to do that game. As soon as it stopped rolling, there was none of that. He never touched me in any improper way. He was very respectful, I must say."

John Mulaney's ex-wife, Annamarie Tendler, came forward after Burton's revelation and accused Affleck of groping her at a Golden Globes party in 2014.

"He walked by me, cupped my butt, and pressed his finger into my crack. I guess he tried to play it like he was politely moving me out of the way and oops touched my b--- instead of my lower back?" said Tendler. "Like most women in these situations I didn't say anything but I have thought a lot about what I'd say if I ever saw him again."

Comedy writer Jen Statsky, who attended the same event, backed up Tendler's story by revealing that some of her pals had the same experience.

Affleck told Barbara Walters in 2012 that his father's alcoholism had a major impact on him. Although he tried to stop drinking when he was 24, he faced another challenge in 2001 when his alcohol abuse led him to undergo a 30-day rehab program.

He went back to rehab in the years thereafter, though he made headlines shortly after he celebrated his recovery on Instagram in 2019.

TMZ released a video of the He's Just Not That Into You actor struggling and stumbling after attending a Halloween bash. He clarified the next day that he had indeed fallen off the wagon.

He shocked fans when he revealed on The Howard Stern Show in 2021 that he would have continued his drinking spree if he had not ended his marriage to Jennifer Garner, who previously helped him with his addiction.

"It's part of why I started drinking … because I was trapped," he disclosed. "I was like 'I can't leave 'cause of my kids, but I'm not happy, what do I do?' What I did was drink a bottle of scotch and fall asleep on the couch, which turned out not to be the solution."

Fans criticized him for blaming his ex-wife for his decades-long history with alcohol, but he clarified his comment in 2023 and said, "To be clear, my behavior is my responsibility entirely."

Through Henry Louis Gates Jr.'s Finding Your Roots on PBS, the public learned about Affleck's family being slave owners in the past. The Daily Mail leaked emails from the show, revealing how Affleck wanted his roots to be censored for the show.

Affleck soon confessed to asking Gates Jr. to entirely remove his family's racist and slavery past in the final edit.

"I felt embarrassed," he wrote on Facebook. "The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth. I didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery."

After Affleck's first engagement to in 2002, the National Enquirer reported about his outing out with strippers at Brandi's Exotic Nightclub in Vancouver, Canada. A dancer named Tammy Morris alleged Affleck kissed her and her body at the time.

Affleck also reportedly performed oral s-- on several women.

One of the alleged strippers debunked the claims in a statement to The New York Post, saying Affleck never touched any of them.

In April 2017, Affleck and Garner filed for divorce years after they split in 2015 following his nannygate scandal. They finalized the divorce one year later.

The Air actor reportedly hooked up with the family's former nanny, Christine Ouzounian, around the time he and Garner separated.

"Jennifer was furious when she found out they were talking when the kids weren't involved," a source alleged to RadarOnline.com. "He admitted that they did have a meeting and that there was texting, an email relationship and a couple of phone calls, too. That set Jennifer off, and that's when the nanny got sent packing."

On the other hand, the 13 Going On 30 star told Vanity Fair they had been separated for months before hearing about the buzz involving the nanny.

The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas ultimately banned Affleck from playing blackjack starting in 2014 after security found him counting cards.

"Managers approached Ben and told him, 'You are playing too well. You are going to have to stop playing blackjack. You can play any other game at the Hard Rock, but you are banned from playing blackjack in our casino,'" a source told The New York Post.

Affleck confirmed the incident during his interview with Details the same year.