TV presenter defends Ben Affleck after controversial interview resurfaces

'It was for a show I was producing, so I was not at all a victim'

(Getty Images)

An old video featuring an interview with Ben Affleck has begun circulating online, featuring the actor closely cuddling a Canadian journalist and joking about exposing her breasts.

Anne-Marie Losique — the presenter seen in the clip — has since defended Affleck, saying the footage has been taken out of context.

"This was for the camera," she told The Hollywood Reporter. "You have to understand that we have done dozens and dozens of interviews like that.

“It was for a show I was producing, so I was not at all a victim. When the cameras rolled, we would start to do that game. As soon as it stopped rolling, there was none of that. He never touched me in any improper way. He was very respectful, I must say."

At the time, Losique was a reporter for Montreal’s entertainment news show Box Office. She has gone on to become a successful business mogul, owning VanessaTV.

The footage — which features Affleck promoting the 2004 film Jersey Girl — was widely shared after Affleck publicly apologised for acting “inappropriately” towards actress Hilarie Burton.

Makeup artist Annamarie Tendler has since accused Affleck of assault, writing on Twitter: “I would also love to get an apology from Ben Affleck who grabbed my a** at a Golden Globes party in 2014.”

She continued: “He walked by me, cupped my butt and pressed his finger into my crack. I guess he tried to play it like he was politely moving me out of the way and oops touched my butt instead of my lower back?”

Tendler, author of The Daily Face, stated that while she remained silent at the time, she has “thought a lot about what [she'd] say if [she] ever saw him again.”

Affleck’s apology to Burton was originally published in response to the condemnation of Harvey Weinstein, the Hollywood mogul at the centre of a sexual harassment case.

Affleck said of Weinstein: "I am saddened and angry that a man who I worked with used his position of power to intimidate, sexually harass and manipulate many women over decades.”

Following Affleck's statement, Rose McGowan — one of the actors mentioned in the original New York Times investigation — accused the actor of lying. She alleges that he was fully aware of Weinstein's actions.

The Independent has contacted Ben Affleck for comment.