Ben Affleck Apologizes For PBS Slavery Omission: ‘I Was Embarrassed’

Ben Affleck has explained why he requested that PBS’ “Finding Your Roots” omit that one of his ancestors owned slaves.

“After an exhaustive search of my ancestry for ‘Finding Your Roots,’ it was discovered that one of my distant relatives was an owner of slaves. 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 “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” star wrote in a post on his Facebook page on Tuesday night.

“Skip decided what went into the show. I lobbied him the same way I lobby directors about what takes of mine I think they should use. This is the collaborative creative process. Skip agreed with me on the slave owner but made other choices I disagreed with. In the end, it’s his show and I knew that going in. I’m proud to be his friend and proud to have participated,” he continued.

The actor said it’s important to remember that the documentary series is not a “news” program.

“‘Finding Your Roots’ is a show where you voluntarily provide a great deal of information about your family, making you quite vulnerable. The assumption is that they will never be dishonest but they will respect your willingness to participate and not look to include things you think would embarrass your family,” he wrote. “I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story. 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.”

Ben later commented back to Facebook users who responded to his post with further clarification.

“Thanks for the comments here. To clarify, because I see this story being framed as ‘censorship’ on some sites, when I told Skip I was uneasy about the slave owner, he told me he had not included it in his preliminary cut because there wasn’t much detail – a name and no details, so he wasn’t going with it to begin with,” he explained. “He also told me they would do a book later with a more complete story, and I said I would be happy to participate and talk about the issues more broadly.”

— Erin O’Sullivan