Emails Reveal Ben Affleck’s Ancestors Were Slave Owners and Ben Affleck Didn’t Want People to Know.
Hacked Sony emails have eliminated any sense of privacy and backroom Hollywood negotiations. Racist emails between Sony executives and unequal pay practices by Hollywood producers have been brought to light by a group of hackers. Now the latest actor to be affected by the Sony Hack is Ben Affleck.
According to a report by The Hollywood Reporter, hacked Sony emails reveal that the actor required that his slave owner ancestor be removed from his family tree on PBS program ‘Finding Roots’.
The show’s host, Henry Louis Gates, Jr. emailed Sony chief Michael Lynton asking for help on the actor’s request.
From The Hollywood Reporter:
“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,” Gates emailed Lynton in the July 22, 2014 email chain.
Gates went on to say that if word got out of the censoring, the brand would be tarnished and, “even for Batman,” would be a violation of PBS rules.
“Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns,” Gates continued in the email, suggesting the actor’s ancestor “wasn’t even a bad guy.”
Apparently Anderson Cooper’s ancestor was a real racist. One of his slaves actually murdered him and of course, the slave was hanged shortly thereafter.
Gates later defended the decision to edit out Affleck’s ancestor in a statement posted the PBS website. Basically saying they made an “independent editorial judgment to choose the most compelling narrative”. I think Ben Affleck’s slave owning ancestor is pretty compelling but, I don’t work for PBS.
What would you have done? Would you let people know that your great grandfather was a slave owner? Share with us your thoughts in the comments below!
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