Star couple Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck had a lavish wedding ceremony at the actor’s 87-acre property in Georgia. However, people were not happy with the venue that the pop star and the ‘Gone Girl’ actor chose to exchange vows at their nuptials.
It was reported that the place, which was built in 2000, was designed to resemble a plantation in the Antebellum south. A 2015 segment of the ‘Finding Your Roots’ series discussed Benjamin Cole, an ancestor of Affleck who reportedly owned multiple enslaved African-Americans, reports aceshowbiz.com.
The actor reportedly tried to sell the property, which features a 6,000-square-foot home deep water port, 10,000 square foot guest house, and equestrian facilities, for $8.9 million in 2018 after trying to keep the information under wraps. He eventually removed the listing after it did not sell despite him lowering the price to $7.6 million in 2019.
Upon knowing the information, Internet users were quick to slam the couple.
One of them even called the pair “racist,” saying, “J.LO and Ben having their wedding on a plantation does not surprise me… Both give off racist vibes.”
One added, “Here we go again. Dumba** Affleck and desperate JLo having a plantation wedding at THE BIG HOUSE. A home that sits on land of slaves. The PBS ancestry showed us about Ben’s family’s evil past with slave ownership.”
“Plantation ‘style’ weddings are just as sick and inappropriate as slave quarter AirBnB’s. They must be called out. Also, J. Lo is now officially a white Latina. No one with a real abuela would co-sign this Gone with the Wind B.S.,” another critic tweeted.
A user similarly wrote, “Plantation wedding? J.LO will forever be tone deaf.”
“I want nothing but happiness for Jen and Ben but deeply disappointed by their choice of the venue ‘plantation house’,” one Twitter user posted. “It seems to me they do not care about the horror and cruelty it symbolises.”
The pair celebrated their second wedding on August 20 with family and friends. At the ceremony, Lopez looked stunning in a white Ralph Lauren couture gown complete with long train and veil, while Affleck wore a black and white tuxedo.