Yesterday we ran a story about how Ben Affleck had yet to respond to the controversy over the fact that he had requested that the PBS show, Finding Your Roots, remove footage revealing that he had an ancestor who was a slave owner. We knew this because emails from host Louis Gates Jr. were revealed as part of the Sony hack. In the emails, Gates expressed concern over the fact that a celebrity guest was trying to influence the show. We read, in Gates’s own words, that the show had “never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found” and that to remove the material “would be a violation of PBS rules.” Affleck’s lack of a statement at that point was kind of glaring after Gates and PBS had both issued statements on Friday explaining the change as one of editorial choice, not undue influence.
Well Affleck issued a statement last night, and unlike Gates’s kind of brief, well-stated response, Affleck tried to explain his position more thoroughly. That’s understandable, considering that the story grew so much in the interim, but I think he could have nipped it in the bud with a shorter statement earlier. The longer he avoided it, the more this story grew. Affleck wrote that he asked that parts be included and excluded from his segment, similar to the movie-making process where he makes his preferences known to a director. He’s a director too, so it makes sense to me that he wanted that level of control. Then he talked about how he felt embarrassed for his family and that it was hard to be vulnerable or something and he lost me there.
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.
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.
It’s important to remember that this isn’t 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.
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.
E! notes that PBS has also launched an internal investigation into what happened in this instance. Outlets were questioning whether PBS had compromised their integrity by caving to Batfleck’s request and PBS took it seriously. They’re not making reality shows, they’re trying to show history good and bad.
NPR had some excellent coverage of this story during Morning Edition today. (You can hear it here.) Commentator Gene Demby pointed out that the omission of Affleck’s slave owning ancestor is very glaring “if you watch the episode in context.” Affleck’s episode focused on the fact that he had a fore-bearer who fought in the Revolutionary war alongside Washington and that his mother was active in the Civil Rights movement. So Affleck’s episode was about freedom, but he refused to include the negative parts of his genealogy along with the positive parts.
At least Affleck addressed this and admits that he should have included the issue of slavery in his story. However, I do find his statement too self-focused and defensive. This sentence in particular bothers me “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.” Did he not read the emails? He doesn’t even address the editorial integrity of PBS and he’s assuming the “collaborative creative process” applies to what is supposed to be a documentary-type show. He’s still acting as if it was his right to ask them to whitewash his ancestry when the issue was so serious that Gates sought advice on it and PBS is launching an internal investigation.
A Canadian reader sent us a tip that Ben was spotted in Cape Breton, Nova Scotia last Thursday. Reader Steph emailed me that Affleck “was seen near a Buddhist monastery in Cape Breton… He may be on a retreat there and if so, may not even be aware of all the fuss about his ancestor and his attempt to censor the story.” They have video of Affleck and everything so it’s known that he was there. It’s possible that he was on a retreat without electronics, but Affleck was photographed at the Farmer’s Market in LA on Sunday Morning, and again out with his wife yesterday. He must have learned about this story over the weekend at the latest.
Photo credit: FameFlynet, WENN.com and PRPhotos
“It’s important to remember that this isn’t a news program.”
Well, thanks Ben for schooling us all on what should and shouldn’t be framed with honesty and integrity.
Right. If it’s a news show, no lies. If it’s a documentary or entertainment, lie your face off. Nice rule.
+1
I really don’t believe that Gates would so easily not included the slave story. He loves talking about slavery and always looks for any Civil War connection with all of his guest that have deep roots in America. I feel that Ben and his people really put pressure on him to remove it which is why Gates had that discussion over it in the e-mail. But, whatever Ben.
Now for schooling Ben: with the slave-holder component intact, your story would have been not only more honest but also more interesting.
More American.
Your edit weakened both your segment and the program. Your edit was poorly conceived and executed.
The entire point of the show is that we are all in the American experiment together.
Yes, I loved the episode with Anderson Cooper, Ken Burns and Anna Smith who all had roots in the South with Cooper and Burns discovering a slave-owner. It was very interesting to see all the bits and pieces from history coming together for a very American story.
I’m just surprised he didn’t ask for the edits to include a clip of him doing shirtless chinups
And yet, when a journalist and a documentary filmmaker discovered the same information in their own backgrounds, they chose to treat the show like a news program (i.e. a a show with integrity) and did not ask for it to be edited out of their segment.
Ugh, Ben.
I’m just here for the mewbs.*
*supposed to be in response to taterthot
mewbs are a beauty that all eyes should behold in wonder.
*supposed to be a response to mimif*
The first step is to admit you have a problem, mimif. Welcome to rehab.
Whatever, gut-sucker.
ahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahah
+100000
I just can’t stand him.
I can’t really put myself in his shoes, since I’m not famous and don’t have people commenting on my every move, but I think it was dishonest to leave it out, especially since he had information in there making him look like he comes from a long line of civil rights activists. I just don’t understand people who think it reflects well on them if someone they were related to but never knew was important or influential, and I don’t see any reason for him to be personally ashamed over something he had no control over.
Right! I don’t get why he did this.
Same here.
I know Ben has his demons like many people, but this episode actually speaks more poorly of his character then affairs or gambling do. JMO.
Just don’t do the show.
Rather then manipulate it to your own needs/wants in order to bull***t an audience
More poorly than breaking his vows? One has to do with bring unreasonably sensitive to public criticism and knowing he usually has enough clout to get his way with matters. The other is about using his judgement when no one else is looking.
@Sea Dragon
For me knowing so many men/women who break their vows, but who are ostensibly good people, makes that a flaw but less something which stops me in my tracks.
Going to this level of concealment and manipulation (after volunteering for the show – there was no requirement to agree to it), suggests many things wrong.
Complete with ‘lecturing apology’.
Disclaimer:I can’t stand him. I know that speaks more about me, than him, but he just oozes fakeness and I think that secretly, he’s that slimy guy who cheats around and then turns and uses his children for good PR. He edits his life just so, so he can mantain his image of good American, all around family man.
And I think his level of privilege (expectation that it’s ok to demand these things from the creators) and his fakeness show like a halo in this instance with PBS.
Let’s not forget-why do celebrities show up for these type of TV shows? Promotion. So, he apperead to promote himself, and then turned around and demanded the authors to go against their own principles.
Exactly. It makes him look much worse by censoring it. It is what it is. You cant change the past and this was a show about your roots. He is ridiculous.
I am a direct descendent of all sorts of characters–some shady, some heroic, others just doing what they believed to be right at the time (which was all sorts of wrong). And I find it all fascinating. If I were to be embarrassed by or hold in contempt every relation who ever held a stupid worldview, or even persecuted or beat or killed or enslaved another, I’d be a timid rabbit and never emerge from my warren. Point is, they’re not me, and in knowing who they were and what they did, I can make better choices in my own life. Ben should own who he is and use this newfound information as a jumping off point to teach his kids something different–not necessarily to shame them, but to remind them that we all must strive to do and be better than the generations that preceded us. THAT’S how civilizations move forward and not backward (as ours is unfortunately moving today).
I don’t get it either, I feel like if you’re going to go on a show like this, you should expect it all to be revealed and not cherry picked to make you look good. I also don’t understand the idea of being embarrassed by something someone else did a hundred plus years ago that you have no control over.
Then again, I also don’t know what it’s like to have everything moment or word turned into a tabloid headline, so who knows.
Let’s put this in some perspective, though, shall we?
Ben Affleck should’ve never censored this, but at least he sort of semi-apologized. Jon Hamm, on the other hand, who was kind of complaining about not getting the role in “Gone Girl”, should be thanking Affleck profusely now…
Because the Affleck story about his slave-owning ancestor, something over which he has no control, has virtually eclipsed the revelations that Hamm was the sadistic ringleader of a fraternity torture for which has yet to publicly explain or apologize.
All things considered, the Affleck story is effectively over, but I’m still waiting to hear from Hamm.
Right, I never meant to suggest that it was the crime of the century or anything. I think Hamm’s actions were much, much, much worse. I just don’t see the motivation behind going on a show about your ancestry and then trying to change it. Dopey, in my opinion, but not evil.
As for Affleck, now I’m only more curious to know about his slave-owning ancestor!
Seriously, though, given the revelations on that show already about other celebrity guests’ slave-owning ancestors, some way worse than his, and the fact that there were slave owners in the Northeast before Abolition, I wonder, how did Affleck not know this?
Affleck will be fine, but I agree this was a dopey move on his part and only hurts PBS, television that’s paid for by us, the public, to be objective.
I agree that Jon Hamm needs to address the frat hazing story but I feel like comparing the two things is like comparing apples to oranges. Jon Hamm was 19 or 20 when the frat incident happened and I’m sure he was very inebriated. What he did was horrible, however, it appears to be a rash act done by a troubled young man under the influence. It’s not like Jon Hamm went on to a life of violent crime.
Yes, what Ben Affleck did is not as bad in the sense that unlike in Jon Hamm’s situation there was not a victim, however, Ben Affleck is a full grown man and this was a calculated move.
Exactly what I was thinking. Where’s hamms statement? Perhaps Hamm isn’t as big a star so the heat isn’t on him and he’s hoping the story has gone away. In any event, I can’t fault ben for addressing this now or even for what he did, in comparison to Hamm. Im not a ben fan, and find him kind of boring and too fratboy, but I also kind of get where he was coming from. I think he at least has good intentions and maybe he’s too obsessed about his image but aren’t they all. I mean, honestly, I wouldn’t like that detail revealed about my ancestor either. I don’t know if I wuld have done what Ben did, but I get it a lot more than the cruel and sadistic acts that Hamm committed.
I wonder if Jennifer and the kids ever get tired of being trotted out every time he screws up or is caught in some really dumb mess that he could’ve easily avoided.
Anyway, something about his explanation rubs me the wrong way. I feel like he and his team are trying to spin this like they did that casino story where they were trying to paint him up as being” just too good/smart” and that’s why he was kicked out. Idk.
Right Jinni. I am surprised more people are not talking about his pap walks with the kids after this story broke. Didn’t his wife just lobby for legislation that would protect kids’ from being papped? Hypocrisy at its finest.
Keep talking Ben, just keep on talking.
I’m still waiting for an apology for Pearl Harbour, Daredevil, and at least 70% of Argo.
HA! Can happily say I’ve seen NONE of those things! Poor you. 😛
I think he should have stuck with the last paragraph. Short, direct and to the point. The other parts just make it look worse. If he wants to be a politician, oddly enough, he should learn from Nixon. It is not the deed that makes it look bad, it is the cover-up.
Many people have shady ancestors. He could have made it a great teaching moment about how he behaves now, not what someone he never met did in the past. This should never have risen to this level.
This ^^^^
Double this!^^^^
Bullsh!t. I see a bunch of excuses, and there simply is no excuse.
“I was embarrassed for my family. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth.”
As it should, Ben. The very thought that an entire race of people were treated like property for hundreds and thousands of years should leave a bad taste in your mouth. The thought that our country was built upon the labor of people that were treated like dirt in return should leave a bad taste in your mouth. The fact that you wanted to snap your privileged Hollywood fingers and erase that part of your history, the story that runs in your veins, makes you part of the problem. Trying to pretend that the ugliest part of our country’s history didn’t happen and isn’t relevant to our dynamic as a society today is ignorant, offensive, and the reason we still struggle with racial inequality today.
I do not accept his “I regret my actions after the fact” crap. He regrets the fact that it came out. Had it not, he would never have had a second thought about his attempt to edit history. If he really cared about a larger conversation about the impact of slavery, he would never have tried to edit his family’s slave-owning history from the show. No. Goodbye.
Yeah…@ Shambles …1000%
The “bullsh*t” at the beginning would have been a sufficient response, but the rest of your comment is spot on. +100
‘Twas rather ranty, but ignorant word poop gets me fired up.
OMG I’ve been looking for just the right way to describe this mess of a statement and “ignorant word poop” is perfect!
So true.
He’s only sorry he got caught and called out.
Brilliant
Nailed it.
Well said! I just wanted to add that his statement ” the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery” made my jaw drop; OF COURSE we are still dealing with the legacy of slavery. I just can’t get over how he phrased that… “my story suggests…” I mean, racism is everywhere. There was just another police shooting of an innocent black man. That’s what makes me so mad about this whole thing. The more open and honest we are about the past seems like the best path to healing. That’s what you do in therapy, and this country needs LOTS of therapy. I descend from slave owners, a pedophile, and also some really great (as far as I know) ancestors. I live in a historic southern city. Slavery and its legacy are everywhere, and the more open and honest discourse the better, and Ben Affleck shut down the opportunity for truth.
Well said!
All of this.
Well said. Trying to sweep our past under the rug does us no good. His little write-up is a bunch of phony nonsense after the fact. He could have handled it the way Anderson Cooper did, but no he was worried about his image. He didn’t care about pushing forward a conversation on race. I can’t stand these patronizing limousine liberals. (I’m a liberal myself, I’m talking about the phony privileged ones who patronize.)
Very well said. My favorite was “ignorant word poop” though, gotta admit.
I still wonder why he was in Cheticamp in April. Unless, I mean, he went to the monastery in light of the PR debacle. Cheticamp is still getting freezing rain warnings, and it hasn’t been a very nice NS spring so far – especially in the northern parts of the province.
Everyone in the office was freaking out, wondering why he was in the province, this was a BIG deal to the point that the chronical herald article on him being at the Gas station even said what flavor of gatorade he bought. Which, I then told the husband “Batfleck drinks purple gatorade too. I might as well be batman”.
Overall, I think it was a really really dumb move. I think the connection between the CAA agents might have been the driving force behind this mess. But at the same time – I’ve never watched one of those shows and not assumed they’re sensationalizing people’s ancestry a little bit, whether to make it sound more impressive, or to skim over things. There’s nothing saying that he’s the first who cut certain things from the segment on them.
In his ‘defense’… He is very comfortable with editing unpleasant truths about himself for the public. Like all his sleazy side-pieces and backstage hookups, his boozing and of course his compulsive gambling. God knows what else. I love his films, he’s clearly talented…. But he’s also full of himself and full of sh*t too
+1!
God, what a jerk. Why lie?! Just as the fact that his mother was a civil rights activist doesn’t confer honor upon him, neither does his ancestor owning slaves confer dishonor upon him. Duh. Of course it’s an awful thing to find out-I would be horrified and ashamed of that.But I wouldn’t try to hide it. He could have had some ball$ and made some good come from that knowledge. now?? He looks like a shed of tools.
Eh this came across more as a lecture than an apology. I continue to find him deeply unappealing and unimpressive. He’s a classic example of actors achieving and it never being enough for them. He’s got money so why take on Batman except for the potential public adoration? (Yeah we’ll see how that goes)
“this came across more as a lecture than an apology.”
That’s what I was thinking. It sounds like he’s informing the public on how they should respond to this.
You nailed my feelings on it; he’s lecturing us.
Yep “I was embarrassed” would have been sufficient, the rest of his statement is a bunch of condescending, self serving crap and he still doesn’t seem to understand that it was not ok to pressure skippy gates to cover up the his slave owning ancestor past, his choice of words calling what he did lobbying and then lecturing us that this is good because we are now talking about, egotistical jerk! he makes it so easy not to like him.
At the end of the day you can’t select your ancestors or your family and you can’t pick your parents the only thing you can do is choose how you live your life.
This wasn’t his show and knew what he was going into, right? Talking about a collaborative process in this context and calling it lobbying sounds to me more like censorship on his part because the truth isn’t taht convenient. He made a big deal out of something he is not responsible for. His attitude says a lot about him:/
He admits that our ancestors are no reflection on us yet he tried to falsely present his ancestry as a long line of social justice warriors to reflect on him the image he’s trying to sell of himself. If he believed in the public image he promotes, he wouldn’t have needed to do that.
That’s why he comes across as so smarmy and fake. He may be a very nice man (or not) but if you seem insincere then people will dislike and judge you.
I think he’s setting himself up for running for political office – hence the whitewashing and all the fakeness.
his statement ” the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery” made my jaw drop; OF COURSE we are still dealing with the legacy of slavery. I just can’t get over how he phrased that… “my story suggests…” I mean, racism is everywhere. There was just another police shooting of an innocent black man. That’s what makes me so mad about this whole thing. The more open and honest we are about the past seems like the best path to healing. That’s what you do in therapy, and this country needs LOTS of therapy. I descend from slave owners, a pedophile, and also some really great (as far as I know) ancestors. I live in a historic southern city. Slavery and its legacy are everywhere, and the more open and honest discourse the better, and Ben Affleck shut down the opportunity for truth.
Ben should be labeled made in china..
Frankly, I think it’s great that he was embarrassed by a slave owning ancestor. However I doubt it was his shame that urged him to keep that part of his past to himself, but rather a wish to not rock the family man boat he is sailing on.
He only did this because it got out and he thought it looked bad that he tried to cover it up. Ben Affleck is such a politician. Everything about him is contrived. He’s such a phony. As a minority I can’t stand patronizing phonies like him. Everything is about him looking so tolerant. It’s self-serving.
OMG…..ITS NOT LIKE HE LIT A ORPHANAGE ON FIRE!!!!!!!!! THIS IS WHY HE DIDN’T WANT THE SLAVE OWNING RELATIVE IN THE STORY…..PEOPLE WOULD HAVE BEEN TALKING ALL KINDS OF SMACK ABOUT HIM THEN, TOO!!!!!! HEADLINE: BEN AFFLECK’S HISTORY OF RACISM….
Wow calm down. Lol No one is acting like he set an orphanage on fire. The only thing people are doing is calling him out on his BS lecture AKA apology and saying what he did was stupid.
The story is out now and I have yet to see one headline calling him a racist or blaming him for what his ancestors did. You keep trying to excuses for what he did when there is none.
Are you serious??? You really think the many intelligent Celebitches and comments above you would have been accusing Ben Affleck of racism because of his past? Have you actually read any of the comments?
I’m just sorry that some of these well-written, well-thought out responses are restricted to the Celebitchy website…I would love to hear Mr Affleck’s response to Pinky, Shambles, Noonenobodynowhere amongst others.
If public opinion matters so much to him that he lies, then he must now face public opinion on the fact that he is a liar.
Whoa hold up MrsB.
Shoo your cat off the caps lock and have a cookie.
Nobody here was talking smack about him (although I think GNAT was saying something about his busted hair plugs)
We’re just calling him on his bulldooky of a statement. Nobody gives a damn that he has slave owning ancestors.
One line in the original email says it all
“Lynton: I would take it out if no one knows, but if it gets out that you are editing the material based on this kind of sensitivity then it gets tricky. Again, all things being equal I would definitely take it out.”
They covered up for Ben and they look dishonest. Ben’s subsequent statement made him look not only dishonest, but also, a blame shifter and still unaware of his privilege.
He’s not burning down orphanages. He’s burning his reputation.
Typical.
He does something people find incorrect…people call for an apology. He apologizes and people complain about the way he does it.
Typical.
+1
Sera!!!! That is all.
I think it’s pretty safe to say most white Americans have at least one slave owner somewhere up the family tree, unless your entire family recently immigrated here. I don’t see why he’d think it was all that scandalous. It’s a shameful part of history, but I don’t think anyone would blame him for his ancestors.
On the one hand, why should BA carry a burden that he is not responsible for? On the other hand, I suppose I might have simply stated that my ancestor who owned a slave was an a-hole, and that I am glad that I never knew him/her personally. Can’t win for losing….why is this a topic of discussion again?
What are you talking about? No one is blaming Ben for what his Ancestors did nor is anyone asking him to carry the burden.
I don’t see how it would be a ‘burden’ for BA if he had let the show expose his slave-owning ancestor.
Rather than do what the other celebrities did, which was learn about their ancestors, good or bad, and thereby the audience learns about history too, because it’s an educational show, he turned it into a self-praising, “I only have great people in my blood so that makes me great too,” self-promo, ego-trip show.
Is it a burden for BA that people know that he doesn’t come from 100% perfect people? Is he really that thin-skinned?
He’s saying that Gates agreed with him that it’s too embarrassing to out a slave-owning ancestor?
He’s saying that when he signed up for the show, he expected them not to include things that would embarrass him?
He’s saying that it’s great how his story about his slave-owning ancestor has contributed to the discussion of the history of slavery in the US? Even though he did whatever he could to cover it up. Oh ok. Pat yourself on your back when people said you were wrong in the first place. Nothing turns out bad for him in the end, right? Everything is about what a great thing he did (not do).
What a spineless punk.
This is a show about family history, not a Hollywood film. He’s allowed input but what does he mean about creative collaboration? That point doesn’t apply here.