Casey Affleck might finally be flying from the shadows of his more famous brother, Ben,
but the Academy Award-winning star of Manchester By the Sea has courted more than his fair
share of controversy along the way. His recent brush with stardom, thanks to his 2017 Awards
Season sweep, has brought back to light some troubling past behaviors that have left some
of his colleagues unable to make nice with the actor.
In 2010, Affleck was accused of sexual harassment by two women who worked with him on the film
I'm Still Here. The mockumentary was directed by Affleck and starred his brother-in-law,
Joaquin Phoenix, and ended up being a complete flop that nearly bankrupted him, especially
once the lawsuits started flowing.
The film's producer Amanda White and Director of Photography Magdalena Gorka both accused
Affleck of making sexually explicit comments to them, including suggesting they sleep with
male crew members. White, who filed a $2 million lawsuit against Affleck, claimed the actor
ordered a male colleague to show her his genitals, used her hotel room to sleep with a woman,
and tried to threaten her into sharing a room with him.
The lawsuits were eventually settled out of court for undisclosed amounts and Affleck
and his lawyers have called the accusations false. But once Affleck's star status began
to rise, it was clear these allegations would not be overlooked by everyone. Here are some
stars who still can't stand Casey Affleck.
Brie Larson
As the reigning Best Actress, who took home the hop honors in 2016 for her performance
in Room, Brie Larson was charged with delivering Affleck several of his Best Actor prizes the
following year. And it was a very personal challenge for Larson, who is an outspoken
advocate for sexual assault survivors.
At the Golden Globes, she refused to even touch Affleck as she passed him his trophy.
And while she was completely professional and polite about giving him an Academy Award
shortly thereafter, her disdain was still very evident. Not only did she appear irked
while reading his name as the Best Actor winner, but she also declined to clap for the actor
as he accepted his prize. In fact, she stood as still as the statue s he held until he
came to the stage to collect it.
In case there was any confusion about what her obvious lack of enthusiasm meant, she
went on to tell Vanity Fair, "I think that whatever it was that I did on stage kind of
spoke for itself. I've said all that I need to say about that topic."
Chances are, you won't be seeing these two join up for a cinematic collaboration anytime
soon, but Larson's was hardly the most overt objection to Affleck's Oscar win.
Chrissy Teigen
While most audience members were all ears for Affleck's acceptance speech, Chrissy Teigen
chose to tune him out completely by taking a nap on her husband John Legend's shoulders.
As the cameras panned to Affleck's long-time pal Matt Damon while he thanked him for his
help getting a studio's interest in the project, eagle-eyed fans noticed a slumbering Teigen
in the background and took it as a not-so-subtle sign of her disinterest in Affleck's words.
After all, the whole audience had just erupted in applause, so who could really sleep through
a thing like that?
Teigen hasn't addressed the speculations about her gesture's possible hidden meaning, but
she did cheekily tweet, "just woke up what happened" shortly after the incident, which
allowed the shade to speak for itself.
Constance Wu
Fresh Off the Boat star Constance Wu has perhaps been the most vocal celebrity critic of Affleck.
So, as soon as he scored his Best Actor nomination for Manchester By the Sea, she took to Twitter
to unleash a firestorm of criticism, calling into question his alleged actions and Hollywood's
supposed acceptance of them.
She slammed Affleck and Hollywood at large for positioning him on top, despite the sexual
assault complaints lodged against him, saying, "Good acting performances matters more than
human integrity … Buy your way out of trouble by settling out of court … Because art isn't
about humanity right?"
Even after she was reportedly advised against speaking out against Affleck for the sake
of her own career, Wu refused to be silenced about just how much she despised him, saying,
"I 'm a woman and a human first. That's what my craft is built on."
Luckily, Wu wasn't alone in her outrage.
Others, including B.J. Novak and Heather Matarazzo contributed some similarly spirited digital
responses to Affleck's nomination, too.
Stephen Colbert
The Late Show host Stephen Colbert might be a happy-go-lucky guy most of the time, but
Affleck managed to get under his skin during a 2016 appearance by showing up in slackerwear.
Affleck appeared on the program to promote the release of his crime thriller Triple Nine
and the tension was palpable as the two exchanged jabs about his style.
"Thanks for dressing up. I can't tell whether this choice this is the least celebrity thing to do or the
most celebrity thing to do."
It didn't take long for that comment to turn into a sparring match between the two.
"no I'm not saying that at all, but the rudeness"
"you're implying I'm being rude not at all -- a little bit."
Things continued to disintegrate, with Affleck even snubbing Colbert's offer of a conciliatory
cup of water. And as Colbert continued to talk about his threads, Affleck got visibly
incensed.
"How long are we going to talk about this?"
"Until I get to my joke"
Eventually Colbert did arrive at a punchline, and it was pretty severe, albeit hilarious.
"You really look like a street corner Jesus."
Eventually, Colbert changed the subject to the movie being promoted by the appearance,
but that didn't do much to soothe the situation.
"You want to fight me?"
"No. It feels like this is where this is going."
The two managed to eke out a few more minutes of conversation by talking about other people
and the movie in question, but the tension was still palpable all the while.
Thanks for watching! Click the Nicki Swift icon to subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Plus check out all this cool stuff we know you'll love, too!