‘I don’t like the guy is an ancestor’: Ben Affleck Bullied PBS into Not Revealing He’s the Descendant of a Slave Owner, Feared Getting Canceled
Actor Ben Affleck has a great influence on the Hollywood industry. He is one of the most popular celebrities in the industry and is loved by his fans. However, there is a dark history of the actor which led him to take severe measures that created quite a controversy. Many of the fans were aware of the show, Finding Your Roots on PBS which dives deep into the ancestral histories of celebrities.
The show featured Henry Louis Gates Jr. as host which once had the actor as their guest. In Finding Your Roots Season 2 Episode 4, titled Roots of Freedom, they discovered that Affleck is the descendant of a slave owner which turned out to be a hassle for the show.
Ben Affleck Urged PBS to Hide The Fact That He is The Descendent of a Slave Owner
The 50-year-old star was not included in some of the discoveries regarding his ancestorial history in the Finding Yours Roots episode. The Gone Girl star’s episode came out in 2014 however the script was leaked the very next year with Wikileaks publishing the documents regarding his ancestorial dirty secret.
In the Sony Studios documents, Gates sent an email to Sony CEO Michael Lynton writing, “[C]onfidentially, 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.”
Though he shared that their guest was a “megastar” referring to the subject as “Batman.” For the unversed, Ben Affleck, at that time, was preparing for his upcoming role in Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice.
Ben Affleck Later Apologized for His Act of Edit That Episode
Due to that decision, the issue came to public attention which went quite far. He later regretted editing that episode and later apologized for the incident.
“I didn’t want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth,” the actor issued a public apology on his Facebook page.
“I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story,” he shared.
“We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery. It is an examination well worth continuing. I am glad that my story, however indirectly, will contribute to that discussion. While I don’t like that the guy is an ancestor, I am happy that aspect of our country’s history is being talked about.”
The guy mentioned in the context was the actor’s ancestor, Benjamin Cole who was a wealthy landowner in Savannah, Georgia, and reportedly owned 25 slaves.
Source: DailyBeast
