Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez during the 2003 Gigli premiere at Mann National in Westwood, California.
Nine years ago, Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez visited two plagues upon us — Gigli and “Bennifer” — and it’s hard to say which was worse. The nickname outlasted the couple, partially because Affleck ended up marrying a different Jennifer (he had to, obviously) — but their brief union spawned plenty of unwanted progeny. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie became Brangelina. Kanye West and Kim Kardashian are now Kimye. Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher briefly tried to make Dashmi a thing. The nickname, like their relationship, failed — as did “Spederline” (Britney Spears and ex-husband Kevin Federline), although “Speidi” (Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt) still seem to be together, to almost everyone’s surprise. But if a name like TomKat (for Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes) can’t keep a couple together, then we should really just do away with them entirely — or let the Mayans do it for us.