Alanis Morissette Calls Out Ben Affleck On Stage Over His "Sexuality" Comment — Then Plays That Dogma Clip
During her Butterfly with a Machete: A Rock Traumedy residency at the YouTube Theater in Inglewood, Morissette ran through a list of complaints and comments she has collected over her career, as captured in fan video from the show. Then came the moment that has since gone viral.
"I've even had a guy ask me why I didn't lead with my sexuality," the Grammy winner told the crowd. "Thank you, Ben Affleck."
The Dogma Payoff
As if the name-drop was not enough, Morissette then played a clip from the 1999 Kevin Smith film Dogma — the movie in which she played God, and in which Affleck's character, the fallen angel Bartleby, meets a famously explosive end at her hands. The audience roared, and social media did the rest, with Entertainment Weekly's clip of the moment spreading fast.
The joke lands because of the history: Dogma starred Affleck and Matt Damon as fallen angels, with Morissette appearing as God in the film's climax. Twenty-seven years later, she is still the one with the last word.
A Big Month for Alanis
The call-out caps a headline-making few weeks for the Jagged Little Pill singer. On the November 3 episode of the Handsome podcast, hosted by Tig Notaro, Fortune Feimster and Mae Martin, Morissette spoke openly about her sexuality. Asked whether the men who hurt her had ever made her think about romances with women, she replied: "I'm pansexual, so, yeah." Pressed on whether she really is pansexual, she confirmed: "I am."
Morissette — who has been married to rapper Souleye since 2010 — has described the revelation as something she likes to save "for the epilogue," joking that she enjoys confusing people. Fans at the LA residency also saw her take a tumble on stage in a separate moment that has been widely shared online — and, true to form, she carried on with the show.
Why Fans Are Loving It
For many fans, the Affleck moment is classic Alanis: turning an old, uncomfortable industry comment into a punchline on her own terms, in front of a stadium crowd, with a perfectly chosen film clip as the exclamation point. The singer's residency continues in Los Angeles this month, and if this week is anything to go by, no one in her past should feel entirely safe.
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