When it comes to anything involving children, Hollywood has set the bar so low that one sometimes experiences pleasant surprises.
For instance, veteran actor Ben Affleck — no one’s idea of a conservative icon for most of his career — went viral earlier this month on the social media platform Instagram when he modeled perfect parenting by telling his 13-year-old son Samuel to start working now if he wants to buy a pair of $6,000 sneakers.
“That’s a lot of lawns you gotta mow there,” Affleck said as his son eyed the $6,000 Dior Air Force 1s.
Indeed, the father-and-son banter will probably strike most readers as endearing.
“You just like those because they’re expensive,” Affleck said.
“No, they’re tough!” the excited son replied, using Gen-Z slang for “excellent.” “I always said they look good!”
Then, in a Saturday interview with Access Hollywood, the actor repeated his sensible parenting advice when he responded to a female reporter’s lighthearted question about the exchange.
Even if you were as wealthy as Affleck, would you ever let your child have a $6,000 pair of shoes?
“Did your son start mowing the lawn for those sneakers?” the reporter asked in a video posted to YouTube.
The actor played along.
“That’s what happens when you tell a motherf***er they have to mow a lawn,” Affleck replied. “All of a sudden they don’t want those shoes, and he was like, ‘But I always said they were tough.’”
The father even tried to get the reporter to relate.
“Do you have any kids? Do you have a 13-year-old?” he asked.
“I don’t,” she replied, laughing.
“It’s always some grift,” Affleck said, rolling his eyes in jest. “I’m like, ‘Man, you do not need $1,000 shoes.’ He’s like, ‘We have the money.’ I’m like, ‘I have the money; you’re broke.’”
WARNING: The following video contains edited language that may offend some readers.
Affleck, whose acting career dates to 1981, established himself as a rising Hollywood superstar when he appeared with co-writer Matt Damon in the 1997 hit movie “Good Will Hunting,” for which the duo won the 1998 Academy Award for Best Screenplay.
Along the way, Affleck has experienced failed marriages, first with actress Jennifer Garner and then with singer-actress Jennifer Lopez. Affleck and Garner had three children, including the lawnmower-averse Samuel.
Curiously, Affleck also made headlines during the 2023 Grammy Awards, which featured a satanic musical performance. A photo of Affleck sitting and looking disgusted went viral on social media.
Although the photographer did not snap the photo during the satanic performance in question, it nonetheless bears mentioning that Affleck converted to Christianity later in life.
That, of course, puts his viral parenting moment in a new context.
It appears, in other words, that he did not merely pose as a strict father for the cameras. He meant it, and Samuel will benefit from it.
Thus, in a Hollywood full of woke parents eager to transition their children from one gender to another, one marvels and even delights in the rare parenting traditionalist like Affleck.
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