More than a year has passed since Tom Brady found himself temporarily barred from playing with the New England Patriots for allegedly under-inflating footballs—but for Ben Affleck, the wound is apparently still pretty fresh. During his appearance on the first episode of Bill Simmons’s HBO talk show Any Given Wednesday, the Bostonian actor delivered an extensive, expletive-filled diatribe that made his feelings on the subject very clear.
“Deflategate is the ultimate bullshit fucking outrage of sports, ever,” Affleck said. His five-minute rant made a thorough case: Brady’s four-game suspension was overkill, Affleck said, especially considering the fact that the NFL has much bigger problems to deal with—for example, domestic violence. Despite Affleck’s harsh delivery, it’s hard not to agree with the guy.
And as for Simmons? What a segment to kick off a show! It seems the new late-night host came to the game prepared to take full advantage of what his expanded cable network has to offer: a friendly environment for blunt, profanity-laced conversation. One might wonder why Simmons would choose to launch with such an old scandal—but then again, when you have a passionate Bostonian like Affleck lined up, there’s a good chance asking about Deflategate would make for great TV.
And why punish Brady for not handing over his cellphone? As Affleck declared, “I would never give an organization as leak-prone as the NFL my fucking cellphone.” He added that perhaps Brady is “so fucking classy” that he simply didn’t want the NFL reading messages between him and his wife, or perhaps some of his candid thoughts about fellow NFL figures.
Whatever the reason for Brady’s suspension, Affleck said that he’s talked to pro football players—and “across the board, they think it’s bullshit.” In reality, Affleck said the whole thing is “a conspiracy of people working inside the NFL who all come from organizations that Tom Brady whipped their ass over the last 10 to 15 years.”
Of course, the conversation eventually got to NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, who “doesn’t have the integrity, I want say, frankly,” to admit that he was wrong and that the whole circus surrounding this mess is stupid.
Simmons’s response encapsulates what he’s bringing to the late-night playing field: “You can absolutely say that on HBO.”
Update (June 23, 4:10 P.M.): Ben Affleck has posted the following to Facebook regarding the interview:
