Casey Affleck denies throwing life-size Ana de Armas cutout into bin in viral pictures

Life-size cutout of Knives Out star appeared to meet its end at the hands of a masked workman

Casey Affleck has denied rumours he threw a life-size cutout of his brother Ben’s ex-girlfriend Ana de Armas into a bin.

On Tuesday (19 January), photos went viral of a cutout of the Knives Out star being thrown into a bin outside Ben Affleck’s home, shortly after reports claimed that the pair had ended their 10-month relationship.

The cutout originally surfaced in June, when photos emerged showing it on display on Affleck’s front lawn – reportedly as part of a prank played on the paparazzi by his children.

In the wake of Affleck and de Armas’s apparent breakup, photos of a workman dumping the cutout in a bin went viral – followed by claims that the masked workman was in fact Affleck’s Oscar-winning brother Casey.

Speaking to Entertainment Tonight, Casey has now denied being the workman in question.

“No, that’s not me,” the Manchester by the Sea star said. “A bunch of people sent that picture to me and I was gonna tweet some, like, joke response or something. And then I couldn’t think of one and a joke didn’t seem appropriate. And I don’t have Twitter so that wasn’t going to work. But it definitely wasn’t me.”

Affleck also said that he did not know for certain that the pair had split, but that he had nothing but admiration for de Armas.

“I think that Ana is just the sweetest, funniest, smartest, most charming person,” he explained. “I think she won’t have any problems meeting somebody else.”

Ben Affleck and de Armas met while filming the forthcoming erotic thriller Deep Water, with both presumably expected to promote the film when it is released later this year.

The Justice League actor recently denied ever calling up the paparazzi in the hope of being photographed with women he is romantically involved with. “Why would I have sought that out?” he asked.