Sony Hack: Ben Affleck Suppressed Slave-Owning Family History

Ben Affleck reportedly suppressed the fact that one of his ancestors owned slaves while appearing on the US equivalent of ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, according to emails published from the Sony hack.

The star of 'Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice’ appeared on an episode of the show 'Finding Your Roots’, hosted by Harvard history professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, last September.

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But he was not happy with that part of his family history being revealed on the PBS-broadcasted show, and requested it be removed.

A series of emails from the Sony hack, some 30,000 of which have now been published by WikiLeaks, detail concerns raised by Gates over the request to censor the findings.

Gates, an expert in African-American history who is a friend of President Barack Obama, contacted Sony CEO Michael Lynton saying that a 'megastar’ had asked show producers to edit out the part about slave-owning, saying that 'We’ve never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. What do we do?’

“To do this would be a violation of PBS rules, actually, even for Batman,” he added. “Once we open the door to censorship, we lose control of the brand.”

Lynton said: “It is tricky because it may get out that you made the change and it comes down to editorial integrity.”

In the end, despite Gates appearing opposed to the move, the section about Affleck’s family having owned slaves was not broadcast.

In a statement, Gates said: “We are very grateful to all of our guests for allowing us into their personal lives and have told hundreds of stories in this series including many about slave ancestors – never shying away from chapters of a family’s past that might be unpleasant.

“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.”

PBS added: “It is clear from the exchange how seriously Professor Gates takes editorial integrity. He has told us that after reviewing approximately 10 hours of footage for the episode, he and his producers made an independent editorial judgment to choose the most compelling narrative.

“The range and depth of the stories on 'Finding Your Roots’ speak for themselves.”

Julian Assange, the editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, said that publishing the exchanged about Affleck was justified because is showed the 'influence of a multinational media giant’.

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Image credits: PBS