--- title: Ben Affleck Says His Gigantic Back Tattoo Is Garish in Tweet description: Ben Affleck would like to let you know that his feelings are not hurt by what you think of his very large, very colorful back tattoo. canonical: https://time.com/5220678/ben-affleck-new-yorker-tweet-response-back-tattoo/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2018-03-29T17:08:29.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:51:44.319Z og:title: Ben Affleck Is Happy to Troll Himself About The Tattoo og:description: "Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos" og:url: https://time.com/5220678/ben-affleck-new-yorker-tweet-response-back-tattoo/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38db0be10b2b2aae/69892c584ee262c0a5311594/ben-affleck-tweet-new-yorker-tattoos.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 'Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice'- European Premiere - Red Carpet og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Ben Affleck Is Happy to Troll Himself About The Tattoo twitter:description: "Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38db0be10b2b2aae/69892c584ee262c0a5311594/ben-affleck-tweet-new-yorker-tattoos.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Ben Affleck Breaks Silence on Very Large Very Colorful Back Tattoo At Last  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 29, 2018 5:08 PM CUT  LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 22: Ben Affleck attends the European Premiere of 'Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice' at Odeon Leicester Square on March 22, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images) LONDON, ENGLAND - MARCH 22: Ben Affleck attends the European Premiere of 'Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice' at Odeon Leicester Square on March 22, 2016 in London, England. (Photo by Anthony Harvey/Getty Images)Anthony Harvey—Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Mar 29, 2018 5:08 PM CUT Even [Ben Affleck](http://time.com/4517257/ben-affleck-patriots-loss-reaction/ "undefined") is admitting that his much maligned, very large and [very colorful back tattoo](http://time.com/5212486/matt-damon-defends-ben-affleck-back-tattoo/ "undefined") is somewhat “garish.” The actor’s gigantic, post-divorce tattoo of a phoenix has captured the fascination (and in some cases, the horror) of not only [two of his exes](http://www.bravotv.com/the-daily-dish/ben-affleck-back-tattoo-jennifer-lopez-reacts "undefined"), but the collective Internet, who recently discovered that the ink is, in fact, real, despite the fact that Affleck claimed it was [a fake one for a role](http://people.com/movies/ben-affleck-reveals-his-massive-back-tattoo-is-fake-for-a-movie/ "undefined"). The renewed interest in Affleck’s back tattoo inspired an _New Yorker_ think piece titled “[The Great Sadness of Ben Affleck](https://www.newyorker.com/culture/annals-of-appearances/the-great-sadness-of-ben-affleck "undefined"),” in which writer Naomi Fry posits that Affleck’s notorious ink is a larger metaphor for not a crisis that he might be going through, but a shift in attitudes towards red-blooded American masculinity. > [](https://twitter.com/LittleMissLizz/status/976150923243376640) As it turns out, in addition to being a tattoo enthusiast and an actor, Affleck is also a _New Yorker_ reader, who happened to read Fry’s piece. He took to Twitter on Thursday to tell the _New Yorker_ that despite their assumption that he was sad, he was “doing just fine.” He also acknowledged that his notorious ink is “garish.” As Jennifer Garner might say, [bless his heart](https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2016/02/jennifer-garner-talks-kids-career-ben-affleck "undefined"). > [](https://twitter.com/BenAffleck/status/979371324979245056) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5220678/ben-affleck-new-yorker-tweet-response-back-tattoo/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5220678/ben-affleck-new-yorker-tweet-response-back-tattoo/"},"headline":"Ben Affleck Breaks Silence on Very Large Very Colorful Back Tattoo At Last","datePublished":"2018-03-29T17:08:29.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:51:44.319Z","description":"\"Thick skin bolstered by garish tattoos\"","url":"https://time.com/5220678/ben-affleck-new-yorker-tweet-response-back-tattoo/","keywords":["Newsfeed","celebrities"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38db0be10b2b2aae/69892c584ee262c0a5311594/ben-affleck-tweet-new-yorker-tattoos.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt38db0be10b2b2aae/69892c584ee262c0a5311594/ben-affleck-tweet-new-yorker-tattoos.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"'Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice'- European Premiere - Red Carpet","caption":"'Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice'- European Premiere - Red Carpet","creditText":"Anthony Harvey—Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/5220678/ben-affleck-new-yorker-tweet-response-back-tattoo/","name":"Ben Affleck Breaks Silence on Very Large Very Colorful Back Tattoo At Last"}}]}] ```