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Affleck Sorry For Censoring Family Slave Past

Affleck Sorry For Censoring Family Slave Past

Actor Ben Affleck has said he is sorry he asked the producers of a documentary on his ancestors to leave out information that one was a slave owner.

The Oscar-winner's ancestry was traced by Harvard scholar Henry Louis Gates Jr - Skip - for an episode of Finding Your Roots, a programme featuring celebrities made by the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) and similar to Britain's Who Do You Think You Are?.

Affleck said he had made the request because he felt awkward about what he had discovered.

He tweeted on Wednesday: "Lots of people have been asking who the guy was. His name was Benjamin Cole - lived in Georgia on my Mom's side about six generations back."

"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 actor said in a statement on his Facebook page.

"I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story," he added.

He admitted he had "lobbied" Gates - who had the final say - explaining: 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."

He went on in his statement: "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 programme was shown last October and did not include details of the slave owner but did, said Affleck, include other choices that "I disagreed with".

The story became public after WikiLeaks website published details online of more than 30,000 documents hacked from Sony Pictures Entertainment in a huge cyber attack last year.

Initially, PBS made no comment but now says it is holding an internal review to see if the producers broke the network's editorial standards.