Peter Kramer/NBC(NEW YORK) — PBS says it is conducting an internal review after a hacked Sony email published by WikiLeaks showed that Ben Affleck had requested the show Finding Your Roots not reveal in a 2014 episode featuring him that he had a slave-owning ancestor.
A PBS statement said that PBS and station WNET recently began an internal review to determine whether “editorial standards were observed.”
Affleck addressed the controversy over the Finding Your Roots episode on his Facebook page, writing, “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 said, “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.”
However, the actor said he regrets his “initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story.”
He concluded, “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.”
The episode of Finding Your Roots involving Affleck aired last October, without reference to the ancestor. The leaked email regarding his request was one of thousands of messages and documents from the Sony hacking scandal published by WikiLeaks last week.
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