Jennifer Garner Is Being Very Hard on Herself About Her Oscar Meme

Jennifer Garner appeared on Ellen for an episode airing Friday, and Ellen DeGeneres did that thing she does well: ask her guest for the stories behind their extreme virality. First up? The tweet by Jezebel’s Bobby Finger that caught Garner at the Oscars, furrowing her brow and suddenly stopping her clapping. He captioned it, “What realization did Jennifer Garner just come to?” It’s nice. Look:

But Garner did not think it was nice! She thought it was bad! “I can’t even look at it. I can’t. It’s too embarrassing. I have no control over this,” she told DeGeneres while pointing to her face. “What am I doing?”

Jen! Jen, baby! You’re being too hard on yourself. My face has never gone viral, for which I thank my gods and yours every day, so I can’t weigh in with a full comprehension on her experience. Us, we’re just not like stars. Still, one must assume this video is the best case scenario for the “Caught Unaware Making a Face” genre of viral awards content. The expression is “realizing stuff,” which is pretty innocuous all things considered. Garner appears in People magazine on a weekly basis, often multiple times per issue! She must be used to this! Still! She said she wants to punch herself! She literally said, “I wanna just punch her in the face.” The “her” she is referring to is herself!

The good news is that Garner was cute about her role in the meme the day after it plowed through Twitter. She offered her own thoughts on what she may have been thinking about:

“Congrats to Shape of Water. Maybe I should date a fish,” she hammed.

“Hey, Jimmy Kimmel,_ what’s in your wallet? Wait, where is my wallet?”

“Can’t wait to work with Lena Dunham. Wait, did I sign a nudity waiver?” (It’s a reference to her forthcoming Lena Dunham project, Camping.)

And that, reader, has been a full life cycle of a meme in 2018, from Oscars to Ellen. Tune in next week when Timothée Chalamet talks about his own face for one hour, and we watch silently with rapt attention.

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