J.Lo’s Mother Is in This Ben Affleck Sports Betting Commercial Because ???

Most monogamous relationships follow a similar chronology: first meeting (be it on a dating app or in person); first date; first hookup; casual dating for some time; and then some agreement to commitment. (In Norman Rush’s Mating, the narrator can conceive of just two stages in her romantic pursuit of a famous anthropologist: “acquisitive love,” and “love itself.” But I digress.)

Celebrity relationships famously adhere to their own logic, which is no logic. (Getting papped; vacationing St. Tropez; going Instagram official; recreating a scene from your girlfriend’s iconic music video on a yacht…) And so, because nothing makes sense, Lopez’s mother recently appeared in Affleck’s new gambling commercial.

In the ad spot, Affleck is on a car ride with Melvin Gregg talking up a sports betting app while Gregg teases him for losing some of his bets. The two pull up to a Las Vegas casino and part ways, and Affleck runs into a few people he knows who try to give him betting advice. At one point Affleck strides past Guadalupe Rodríguez, Lopez’s mom, who in the commercial is cast as an extra in the casino. As the camera pans over to her, she’s playing the slots and telling herself, “You can do this girl!”

The commercial explains why Affleck and Rodríguez were spotted in Las Vegas together in June—but it explains little else. It also makes this statement from a “source close to the actor,” provided to E! News, extremely dubious in retrospect: “Guadalupe loves Ben and is happy that he is back in Jennifer’s life,” the source said at the time. “They enjoy gambling together and have done it in the past. Ben had the opportunity to work in Vegas this week and she came out.”

Though the outlet reported that Affleck and Rodríguez were “surrounded by camerapeople and security guards” for a new project of Affleck’s, the outing was also framed as Affleck “win[ning] over his girlfriend’s mom.”

Whatever it is, it’s embarrassing for all parties involved. Nonetheless I can only assume that if Affleck and Lopez do get engaged, and finally married, I’ll soon be seeing the whole family produce sponcon together. I believe they call that “true love.”