Batman Ben Affleck Ask PBS ‘Finding Your Roots’ To Hide Slave Owning Past: Hacked Sony Email Reveal Batfleck’s Racist Ancestor?

A new leaked Sony hack email on Wikileaks has revealed that Ben Affleck (Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice) asked PBS Finding Your Roots host Henry Louis Gates Jr, to edit the fact that one of his ancestors was a slave owner. The shameful secret of Batfleck’s racist family members, lead to a response from PBS and Gates, which seems to confirm the leak.

According to alleged email from PBS’ Finding your Roots host Henry Louis Gates Jr, asked Sony’s Michael Lynton for advice on how to handle Affleck’s request, writing (via NY Daily News) :

"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."

Once this news broke, many were naturally upset and concerned about the editor decision to exclude the annisestor:

Now, Gates has released a statement about the controversy on the PBS website, writing:

“The mission of Finding Your Roots is to find and share interesting stories from our celebrity guests’ ancestries and use those stories to unlock new ways to learn about our past. 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 program. 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 3rd great–grandfather who was an occult enthusiast, and his mother who marched for Civil Rights during the Freedom Summer of 1964.”