Social media users are making memes and jokes about the end of a stressful year after seeing recent paparazzi photos of actor Ben Affleck struggling to carry an armful of coffee and food from Dunkin Donuts.
In the photos, the 48-year-old actor enters the porch of a California Pacific Palisades residence and appears to be struggling while trying to retrieve a mail tube while carrying at least 3 large iced coffees and a container of cookies to go.
Numerous Twitter users joked about how the image of Affleck struggling to do many things alone at home is an illustration of how most Americans felt overwhelmed during a tumultuous year marked by a pandemic and requests to stay home.
@LlamaCrooked wrote: “We were excited about Ben Affleck’s trend on Twitter. More Batman? No! Just a photo that shows everyone in 2020 – the look of frustration, confusion and lack of control! #Benaffleck #dunkin”
@pineapplebreads posted the photo of the donuts and three other pictures of Affleck looking tired last year and wrote: “Ben Affleck at 2020.”
@OpenInqueery posted the image of the donuts and another image of Affleck smoking a cigarette with the face mask pulled over his mouth and wrote: “Ben Affleck has been me all year 2020 and I love it.”
@ jangstar97 empathized with the previous comment, posting another image of Affleck smoking and looking exhausted outdoors, and commenting: “my year was all about two pictures of Ben Affleck.”
@DoncoEnterprise wrote: “Those pictures of Ben Affleck dropping his Dunkin ‘Donuts made me laugh more than anything in recent memory. It’s just a perfect representation of the nightmare that is human life.”
Those pictures of Ben Affleck dropping his Dunkin ‘Donuts made me laugh more than anything in recent memory. It is just a perfect representation of the nightmare that is human life.
– Donald Neuhaus (@DoncoEnterprise) December 31, 2020
Appreciating the mood of the photo, @masterwayne___ commented, “Ben Affleck saving the last day of 2020 simply by asking for Dunkin Donuts” and included a short video of a professional-looking woman with an accent in a moving car, closing her laptop and pulling it out glasses and saying to viewers: “You are in a crisis. I’m on my way.”
@princessbozo wrote, “ben affleck is the sisyphus of Twitter”, a reference to the Greek mythological figure who was punished by Zeus, king of the gods, for cheating death twice by being trapped in the underworld and being forced to roll a large stone without stop a hill, only to see the stone roll down the hill for all eternity. Sisyphus has since become a symbol of someone who works tirelessly as a meaningless task.
@alexpardee commented: “FINALLY I have something in common with Ben Affleck.”
@dunevillenuve wrote: “I can’t believe that I identify with this image or ben affleck more than my own family.”
@KerithBurke observed with humor: “Ben Affleck not only manages to balance a large Dunkin order, he can make the lower half of his body invisible”, a reference to the fact that Affleck’s legs in black sweatpants seem to disappear at the black door behind him .
@AdamBlickstein joked, “Ben Affleck asks for Dunkin ‘as if he were a competitor in Super Sloppy Double Dare”, a reference to Nickelodeon’s game program that is not underway involving sloppy “physical challenges” involving food products and dirty liquids like water , foam and slime.
@Larakate commented: “I was very sad about the cancellation of NYE, but the Ben Affleck Dunkin ‘Donuts memes are helping my spirit back to health.”
I was very saddened by the cancellation of NYE, but Ben Affleck Dunkin ‘Donuts memes are helping my spirit back to health.
– Lara Cohen 💅🏼 (@Larakate) December 31, 2020
@coursxr presented an optimistic wish for the future, stating: “My hope for 2021 is that I will experience the joy of loving something as much as Ben Affleck loves Dunkin ‘Donuts.” The Twitter user’s image was a collage of the countless times Affleck was photographed carrying the company’s coffee.
@Hadyn_Smith was not so optimistic. “If I had to make a prediction of what 2021 will be like, I would have to choose this photo of Ben Affleck dropping his Dunkin ‘Donuts,” wrote the Twitter user.
@IanFortey questioned the public’s obsession with a relatively mundane celebrity photo in the midst of an ongoing pandemic. “Let me see here. 83 million infected in a global pandemic, 1.81 million dead in one year … what sums it up perfectly? What image encapsulates this and OH MY GOD IS THAT BEN AFLECK WITH DUNKIN DONUTS? !?! “
Let me see it here. 83 million infected in a global pandemic, 1.81 million killed in one year … what sums it up perfectly? What image encapsulates this and OH MY GOD IS THAT BEN AFLECK WITH DUNKIN DONUTS?!?! pic.twitter.com/sXcA7xqkbu
– Ian Fortey on a shelf … watching (@IanFortey) December 31, 2020
@Miridunn seemed to share the difference, writing: “Ben Affleck is in fashion because he dropped some Dunkin Donuts. HE DROPPED SOME DUNKIN DONUTS! This is the stupidest thing ever that talks a lot about our pathetic existence and how we deserve all that we won OR is the only thing we need to see now. I can’t decide. “
Ben Affleck is trending because he dropped some Dunkin Donuts. HE DROPED SOME FEET! This is the most stupid thing that says a lot about our pathetic existence and how we deserve everything we receive OR is The thing we need to see now. I can not decide.
– Miriam Dunn (@Miridunn) December 31, 2020
Newsweek contacted the Affleck agent for comment.
Frazer Harrison / Getty