Ben Affleck’s Daughter Masks Up For UN Speech About COVID

Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s daughter, Violet Affleck, addressed the United Nations on Tuesday to express her ongoing concerns over COVID-19.

The 19-year-old Yale freshman wore a KN95 mask as she fretted over what she described as the devastating and enduring effects of COVID-19, while complaining that the world had moved on.

“We are told by leaders across the board that we are the future,” Affleck said. “But when it comes to the ongoing pandemic, our present is being stolen right in front of our eyes.” 

The teen was panicked over people who no longer take precautions against the spread of the virus, lamenting “the relentless beat of back to normal, ignoring, downplaying, and concealing both the prevalence of airborne transmission and the threat of long COVID.”

“Young people lacked both real choice in the matter and information about what was being chosen for us,” Affleck said, per People.

“Here’s what we know about SARS-CoV-2,” she went on. “It is airborne, floating and lingering in the air, one infection can result in disabling damage to almost every cell in the body from the brain and heart to the nerves and blood vessels.”

“Every subsequent infection increases the risk of long movement and places people who already have it in greater danger.”

Affleck also said she’s “terrified” for children who “will not know a world without debilitating pain and exhaustion, who cannot trust their bodies to play, explore, and imagine” after contracting the virus.

“I am furious on their behalf,” she said. “It is a neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes and say, ‘We knew how to protect you and we didn’t do it. We have access to a technology to prevent airborne disease, something that millions of our ancestors and millions of people around the world today would kill for, and we refuse to use it.'”

“And I shudder to think of where we will be in another five years of unmitigated infection and reinfection,” Affleck said.

The daughter of two movie stars equated COVID-19 harm reduction methods to bans on smoking.

“Many of you fought the long and hard battle against indoor smoking. My only memory of that era, at almost 20 years old, is being confused as a child about the no smoking signs on planes. ‘Who would do that? That’s gross,'” she told the U.N.

“My hope for this event and my belief in this community pressed on the belief that we can and we must do that again,” Affleck added. “We can recognize filtered air as a human right, as intuitively as we do filtered water.”

“We can create clean air infrastructure that is so ubiquitous and so obviously necessary, so that tomorrow’s children don’t even know why we need it.”

The college freshman has spoken out about her concerns over COVID-19 before, addressing an L.A. County Board of Supervisors meeting to express her frustration with a mask ban.

Reactions on social media were mostly negative, with most commenters saying Affleck was overreacting.

“There is a pandemic of unbelievably stupid people,” one person wrote.

“Let’s give a platform and seek life advice from famous actors and their children, living in a fantasy world, detached from everyday realities, crafting personas for a living rather than grounded wisdom. Makes sense doesn’t it?” another person replied.

“The only thing better than insufferable Hollywood stars telling everyone how to act, is their insufferable children doing the same,” echoed a third commenter.