Photo: Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic

It’s been eight sad months since Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck filed for divorce, but Affleck remains committed to peppering his ex-wife with niceties every time a microphone is nearby. During the premiere of The Accountant 2 on Wednesday night, he made a pit stop on the red carpet to chat with Entertainment Tonight about his plus-ones for the evening. “The kids are here; Jen’s kids are here. I’m very, very excited,” he said. “I love when all the kids come out.”⁠ When the reporter commended him for “continuing those relationships” with his ex’s kids, Affleck switched into his favorite mode: praising J.Lo.

“I don’t read the stuff online much, but sometimes I get the sense that people … want to find something negative to talk about,” he said of his split from his ex-wife. “For the record, Jennifer Lopez is spectacular, great to my kids, has a great ongoing relationship with them. I love her kids. They are wonderful.”

“She is an enormously important, tremendous person of a lot of integrity who I adore and am grateful to,” he added. “Those kids are amazing, and I’m glad that this is a movie they want to come to.”⁠

This isn’t the first time Affleck has let loose a stream of glowing compliments about his ex-wife. Just last month, the actor told GQ in a cover story that he has “nothing but respect” for J.Lo. Actually, it’s not even the first time he’s called her “spectacular” — he used the same word back in November, fittingly also at a movie premiere, to describe her work in Unstoppable. At this rate, he’s going to have come up with some new adjectives.