Multiple news outlets reported that Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s child, Fin Affleck, came out as trans during their grandfather’s funeral, but was this what actually happened?
Jennifer Garner’s father, William Jack Garner, passed away on the 1st of April at the age of 85. His funeral was live-streamed on the Christ Church United Methodist Facebook page although a lot of attention has been given to Garner’s 15-year-old child who introduced themselves as Fin Affleck. After stating their name they proceeded to read a passage from the bible. Some people have interpreted this as Fin coming out as trans during the funeral, but that’s a pretty far cry from the truth.
Fin had already come out as trans
All Fin did was announce their name before giving a speech; it’s a pretty normal thing to do. It seems clear that those close to Fin already knew they were trans so it’s not like they dropped a bombshell completely out of the blue, Fin’s new name has been known for a while now.
The X (formerly Twitter) account ‘Keeping up with the Afflecks’ posted pics from January 2023 showing Ben Affleck, Jennifer Lopez, and other members of the family showing up at Fin’s musical performance in LA. The post refers to them as Fin and according to an article from Pink News, their name was spotted embroidered on their backpack at the time.
That same article reports that many outlets ran with headlines such as “Fin Affleck comes out as trans at a funeral.” This is very misleading and has possibly led people who don’t actually click and read the full thing to make their own conclusions and start attacking Fin online for something they didn’t really do. As a matter of fact, it’s already happening, surely it’s only a matter of time before J.K. Rowling gives her two cents on the whole thing.
It’s become a case of Chinese whispers, in one instance, X user, Oli London claimed that “Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s daughter comes out as TRANS during her grandfather’s funeral.” they cited a Daily Mail article that does not say that anywhere in the article, but it seems like London might have only read the headline which implies that’s what happened. The replies to his post are filled with people who wholeheartedly believe London’s statement and many were highly critical of Fin with one user responding: “How very narcissistic to make her grandfather’s funeral about herself.”
Just to reiterate, Fin did not come out as trans during the funeral, nor did they try to make the whole thing about them. They formally debuted their new name to the public, although evidence suggests they’ve been going by that name for some time.