The 'Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice' actor says his slave-owning relative is from his mother's side 'about six generations back.'
- April 23, 2015
AceShowbiz -
Ben Affleck takes it to Twitter to name his long-deceased relative who owned slaves. The revelation comes after the actor issued an apology for requesting information about his slave-owning ancestor be omitted from PBS' "Finding Your Roots".
"Lots of people have been asking who the guy was," the "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice" star recently explained on the social network. "His name was Benjamin Cole - lived in Georgia on my Mom's side about six generations back."
Affleck appeared on "Finding Your Roots" in October 2014. His interference with the final cut of the episode was revealed through a leaked email exchange between Sony Entertainment Chairman Michael Lynton and the show's host and producer Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr.
In his apologetic statement, the actor later admitted his embarrassment led him to ask the Professor to edit it out. "I didn't want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves," he said. "The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth."
PBS is now conducting an internal review on possible violation of the network's editorial standards on the documentary series.
