Apple cider vinegar Is Pilates for you? 'Ambient gaslighting' 'Main character energy'
TV
Ben Affleck

Critics pile on, Affleck names 'Roots' relative

Andrea Mandell
USA TODAY
Ben Affleck finally addresses the controversy surrounding his epiode of 'Finding Your Roots.'

LOS ANGELES — The public isn't letting this go yet.

After emails from the Sony hack leaked containing information that Ben Affleck shut down a segment on Finding Your Roots that revealed he had a slave-owning ancestor, PBS announced they've launched an internal review to see if their editorial standards were followed.

On Wednesday, Affleck named the relative in question.

He had spoken out on Tuesday about what really happened.

"I didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves," Affleck wrote on his Facebook page. "I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth."

He goes on to concede he lobbied the show to cut the revelation.

"It's important to remember that this isn't a news program," he says. "Finding Your Roots is a show where you voluntarily provide a great deal of information about your family, making you quite vulnerable."

Criticism has been piled on the actor and the show. The Boston Globe published a particularly damning cartoon on Wednesday, along with a scolding editorial on why Affleck, a Boston native, "needs a reality check."

Affleck says he now regrets having pushed for the omission. "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," he wrote.

The leaked emails had shown Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates seeking advice from Sony chief executive Michael Lynton while the Affleck episode was in development.

"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," Gates' leaked email states. "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?"

As we now know, Affleck's slave-owning ancestor never made the October episode.

Recently, Gates defended his decision, saying he chose to instead focus on Affleck's Revolutionary War ancestor and a 3rd great-grandfather who was an occult enthusiast.

WikiLeaks made thousands of emails and documents associated with last year's Sony hack searchable on its website on April 16.

Featured Weekly Ad