Leaked emails suggest Ben Affleck asked slave-owning ancestor be deleted from history

zwiebel

New Member
Joined
Oct 1, 2012
Messages
27,184
Reaction score
504
A series of leaked emails appear to reveal that actor Ben Affleck asked for any mention of his slave-owning ancestor be removed from a PBS 'Finding Your Roots' documentary. PBS and host of the show, Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates, made statements saying they hadn't censored anything - it was just a more interesting ancestor was found.

However, a series of email exchanges between Gates and Sony Pictures CEO Michael Lynton seem to tell a different story:

"Here's my dilemma: confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors--the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?" Gates wrote on July 22, 2014.

In the emails, Gates goes on to say how he thinks Affleck is being given bad advice and that if news of censoring got out, it would embarrass him and compromise the show's integrity.

http://bigstory.ap.org/article/81b7...ck-asked-pbs-not-reveal-slave-owning-ancestor
 
Ben Affleck insisted on censoring the fact that one of his ancestors owned slaves from PBS show “Finding Your Roots,” the Sony email hack has revealed.

http://www.foxnews.com/entertainmen...-his-slave-owning-ancestor/?intcmp=latestnews

Ultimately producers ceded to Affleck’s demand and no mention was made of his slave-owning ancestor. The show broadcast on October 14 last year focused on a Revolutionary War ancestor, an ancestor who was an occult enthusiast and his mother, who marched for civil rights in 1964.

............................

Email: Ben Affleck Asked PBS to Not Reveal Slave-Owning Ancestor

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wi...ked-pbs-reveal-slave-owning-ancestor-30424158

............................

http://www.msn.com/en-us/tv/news/be...nsored-from-pbs-finding-your-roots/ar-AAbcHvn

............................

http://www.nydailynews.com/entertai...r-censored-family-tree-sony-article-1.2189594

............................

Ben Affleck suppressed slave-owning ancestry, hacked Sony emails claim

http://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/apr/18/ben-affleck-pbs-ancestor-slave-owner-henry-louis-gates

“Ultimately, I maintain editorial control on all of my projects and, with my producers, decide what will make for the most compelling programme. In the case of Mr Affleck we focused on what we felt were the most interesting aspects of his ancestry – including a Revolutionary War ancestor, a third great–grandfather who was an occult enthusiast, and his mother who marched for civil rights during the Freedom Summer of 1964.”

bbm, Oh sure you did.
 
I don't understand why anyone would want that censored. Even if I find it disgusting, it was acceptable during that period of time and has nothing to do with who any of us are now. We can't change the mistakes of our ancestors, but we can acknowledge them and rise above them. I think that he would have done less damage to public opinion if he had just acknowledged his roots - the good, the bad and the ugly.
 
Email: Affleck asked PBS to not reveal slave-owning ancestor

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20150419/us--sony_hack-wikileaks-affleck-a9e13c0847.html

In their email exchange, Gates asks Lynton for advice on how to handle Affleck's request.


"Here's my dilemma: confidentially, for the first time, one of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors--the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?" Gates wrote on July 22, 2014.

..............................

PBS Says It Didn't Censor Ben Affleck's Slave-Owning Ancestor

http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/wi...ked-pbs-reveal-slave-owning-ancestor-30424158

bbm So which is it? Did he or didn't he? Did you or didn't you?
 
'I was embarrassed': Ben Affleck apologizes for demanding slave-owning relative be cut from PBS show about his ancestors

Ben Affleck has apologized after he demanded information about a slave-owning relative be withheld from a PBS show about his ancestry

As DailyMail.com first revealed, producers agreed to the actor's demand and cut the segment from the program

'I didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed,' he wrote on Facebook

PBS has launched an internal investigation into whether or not Finding Your Roots violated their editorial standards by allowing this request

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...relative-cut-PBS-ancestors.html#ixzz3Y19Jk04R
 
I don't know, while working on a family tree I too found some "embarrassing" information about a distant grandfather. I was a bit taken aback at first. Have come to terms with the info now, but don't know that I'd particularly want it broadcast on a television show.

I do feel PBS may have been lax in not taking the time to talk with Ben about this issue and to share with him that others have found similar info about their ancestors.
 
My grandfather was a member of the KKK in the 1920s. (No lynching, no violence. The Klan in his area of Kansas was organized to oppose a Catholic candidate for President (as if that's somehow acceptable!).)

And that reflects on me how, exactly? (Said grandfather was actually a loving and rather gentle man.)

But I'm not Ben Affleck. And this post won't provide fodder for the cover page of every tabloid.
 
My grandfather was a member of the KKK in the 1920s. (No lynching, no violence. The Klan in his area of Kansas was organized to oppose a Catholic candidate for President (as if that's somehow acceptable!).)

And that reflects on me how, exactly? (Said grandfather was actually a loving and rather gentle man.)

But I'm not Ben Affleck. And this post won't provide fodder for the cover page of every tabloid.

I thought the whole idea of searching your family's roots was to discover your historic ancestors and their lives.

You gotta take it all. The good, bad, and the ugly.

No one gets to pick their family or past generations.

Not sure why Ben thought some transgression from an unknown family member (how many?) years ago would destroy his legacy.

Weird, for me anyways.

I worry more about "real time" goings ons.
 

Members online

Online statistics

Members online
134
Guests online
1,031
Total visitors
1,165

Forum statistics

Threads
589,928
Messages
17,927,789
Members
228,003
Latest member
Knovah
Back
Top