Ben Affleck received an honorary doctorate degree in fine arts from Brown University Sunday according to Fox News. The Academy Award- winning actor received one of the six honorary degrees of the day.
"This is a spectacular honor for me. Not only for the education, but now I surpass Matt Damon," Affleck said.
Affleck and Damon are childhood friends and colleagues who take pride in each others accomplishments. Damon received a Harvard Arts Medal earlier this year.
According to CBS News, the Providence, Rhode Island ceremony honored six others and presented 2,400 degrees. Amongst Affleck included Junot Diza, author and MIT Professor, Robert Woof Johnson, a medical doctor, and other educators, writers, and scientist.
It has been a rewarding year for Affleck. He won the Best Motion Picture Of The Year Academy Award presented to him by First Lady Michelle Obama, and the Movie Of The Year AFI award for "Argo".
"Argo" was a controversial film that made headlines for its challenging plot and film location. The movie tells a tale of "six American hostages from the besieged U.S Embassy in Tehran in 1979. Some of the people of Iran were displeased with how the Iranian revolution was depicted where others felt the film was true to the Iranian realities of that time. As previously reported, some of the Iranian reviews of "Argo" included an accusation that the film was an "advertisement for the CIA."
The film provided the world with a different perspective of the Iranian revolution. It gave the Iranian people a voice and provided them with the necessary exposure needed for further governmental involvement and global aid. Affleck took on the task and even mentioned the suffering in his Oscar speech. He was later on chastised by the Iranian media for doing so.
