Life Lessons from Ben Affleck’s Slave-Owning Ancestor Saga

Last updated on: June 9, 2015 at 9:59 pm by Sean Lowe

Life Lessons from Ben Affleck’s Slave-Owning Ancestor Saga 2015-06-09T21:59:11-04:00 Sean Lowe

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Does your family have any dark secrets hiding in the past? What if they were discovered and aired on national television?

That’s what happened to Ben Affleck when he went on PBS’ documentary series “Finding Your Roots.” The show uncovered that one of his ancestors was a slave owner, just like Anderson Cooper, Derek Jeter, and Ken Burns had also discovered. The idea made Affleck so ashamed, though, he asked the executive producer, Henry “Skip” Gates Jr., to leave it out of the show when it aired.

He agreed, and the skeleton would have stayed in the closet – except Sony’s emails were hacked, and the news came out anyway.

“Ultimately, I maintain editorial control on all of my projects and, with my producers, decide what will make for the most compelling program,” Gates said in a statement. And Affleck had plenty of other respectable and colorful ancestors – “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.”

Affleck released a statement explaining his thinking behind the request: “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.” He made his request just like he’d lobby a director to keep or cut certain shots in a movie.

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