Meghan McCain blasts Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner’s teen daughter over her UN mask-mandate speech
The Yale student, who is transgender, addressed the Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action event this week, emphasising the ongoing importance of masks
By Callum Wells
Meghan McCain has blasted Violet Affleck, the transgender daughter of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Garner, after her mask-mandate speech at the United Nations.
The Yale student, 19, who attends Davenport College, addressed the Healthy Indoor Air: A Global Call to Action event this week, emphasising the ongoing importance of masks and other preventative measures even more than five years after the Covid-19 pandemic.
“It is neglect of the highest order to look children in the eyes and say, ‘We knew how to protect you, and we didn’t do it,’” Violet said, urging adults to take responsibility for protecting younger generations. She criticised the “back to normal” mindset that downplayed airborne transmission and the risk of long Covid.
“This is why people hate nepo babies so much” – Meghan McCain criticising Violet Affleck’s United Nations speech
McCain, 40, former The View co-host and daughter of the late Republican senator John McCain, took to X to call Violet’s remarks “absurd”. She wrote, “Every single thing about all of this is why people hate nepo babies so much. She has no business speaking at the UN and what she is speaking about is patently absurd.”
After deleting the post, McCain defended her stance and addressed claims of hypocrisy, writing: “First, it takes one to know one. I’m clearly a nepo baby, check my twitter bio. Say whatever you want about me, my parents would have NEVER been okay with me speaking in front of the United Nations at 19 about a health issue I had no background, training or experience in.
“Having famous parents is a double edged sword and if you’re going to put yourself out there, you gotta take the heat (as I have always done). Finally – anyone advocating that I mask my kids all day in 2025 I think is insane, and that is my right. Have a nice day.”
Violet has a history of activism. Last year, she demanded mask mandates in medical facilities after experiencing a “post-viral condition” in 2019. She has often been seen wearing masks at public events, sometimes as the only family member doing so.
At the UN, Violet called for clean air to be treated as a human right
Her activism extends to fashion: in 2023 she was photographed in a black sweater featuring a watermelon – a statement of solidarity with Palestine – which sparked high demand for the Chicago-based brand Wear the Peace. She has also carried books such as Steven W. Thrasher’s The Viral Underclass: The Human Toll When Inequality and Disease Collide, which investigates global health inequalities.
Violet’s public appearances include a White House state dinner in 2022 with her mother, hosted by Joe and Jill Biden for French president Emmanuel Macron. She has also been seen wearing a Dolce & Gabbana dress previously worn by Jennifer Lopez, her father’s former wife, and spent time with Lopez even after her parents separated.
At the UN, Violet called for clean air to be treated as a human right. “We can create clean air infrastructure that is so ubiquitous and so obviously necessary, tomorrow’s children don’t even know why we need it,” she said. She also addressed the LA County Board of Supervisors, demanding mask availability, Far-UVC light, air filtration and the opposition of mask bans in government facilities.
Earlier this year, Violet published an article in Yale Global Health Review examining Los Angeles’ Covid response and climate change. “In the same way that COVID-conscious and disabled people celebrate each chain of transmission broken,” she wrote, “climate scientists recognize that each degree of warming we avoid will be a victory.”