One of the more curious stories to come out of the Sony hack is the fact that Ben Affleck can be exacting about his image. That’s not the most interesting thing, because one might suspect that about him. What’s notable is how demanding he can actually be. According to emails leaked as part of the Sony hack, Affleck requested that the PBS show Finding Your Roots, hosted by Henry Louis Gates, Jr., remove parts of the show referencing the fact that he had a slave-owning ancestor. We know this because host Gates emailed Sony CEO Michael Lynton requesting advice.

Affleck taped his segment in January, 2014 and according to emails that Gates sent Lynton at the time, the taping went very well and Affleck “enjoyed it so much that he is getting Matt Damon to do it, too.” (Unfortunately that didn’t happen.) Then, in July, Gates emailed Lynton again asking how to deal with the fact that a celebrity guest requested that parts of their ancestry be wiped from the show. (He didn’t name the star, but referenced “Batman.” Incidentally, in that same email thread they also talk about what a douche Harvey Weinstein is.) Gates said they’d never done this before and that it might compromise the show’s integrity. Lynton advised him to acquiesce and Gates said he was relieved, however he added that the slave-owning ancestor wasn’t demonized, and that in contrast Anderson Cooper had a horrible, abusive slave-owner as an ancestor and that he sucked it up and dealt with it. Both Affleck’s and Anderson’s episodes aired in October of last year.

Gates: Confidentially, 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. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We’ve never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He’s a megastar. What do we do?

Lynton: The big question is who knows that the material is in the doc and is being taken out. I would take it out if no one knows, but if it gets out that you are editing the material based on this kind of sensitivity then it gets tricky. Again, all things being equal I would definitely take it out.

Gates: Good; relieved. As for the doc: all my producers would know; his PR agency the same as mine, and everyone there has been involved trying to resolve this; my agent at CAA knows. And PBS would know. To do this would be a violation of PBS rules, actually, even for Batman.

Lynton: Then it is tricky because it may get out that you made the change and it comes down to editorial integrity.

Gates: It would embarrass him and compromise our integrity. I think he is getting very bad advice. I’ve offered to fly to Detroit, where he is filming, to talk it through…

And [the ancestor] wasn’t even a bad guy. We don’t demonize him at all. Now Anderson Cooper’s ancestor was a real s.o.b.; one of his slaves actually murdered him. Of course, the slave was promptly hanged. And Anderson didn’t miss a beat about that. Once we open the door to censorship, we lose control of the brand.

[From Wikileaks]

Here’s the thing: Gates said that he suspected Affleck got bad advice, which makes sense as it took Affleck a full six months to request the change. What I don’t understand is, if this wasn’t Affleck’s own idea, why he followed the advice. Has he never seen this show or even Who Do You Think You Are? There were slave owners in America up until the Civil War. It’s a despicable, sad, regrettable part of history but we can’t help who we’re descended from. As Gates mentioned, Anderson Cooper handled an even worse situation with grace. Plus, I don’t think it affects a star’s brand at all to have horrible ancestors. People understand that no one has control over their genealogy.

In response, Gates and PBS have issued statements defending their editorial choice. Both made extremely good, convincing points. That could be due to the excellent writers at PBS but I came away feeling sorry for them. Here is part of Gates’s statement, with more on E!:

Gates: 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.

PBS: It is clear from the exchange how seriously Professor Gates takes editorial integrity. He has told us that after reviewing approximately ten hours of footage for the episode, he and his producers made an independent editorial judgment to choose the most compelling narrative. The range and depth of the stories on Finding Your Roots speak for themselves.

[From E! Online]

I do think that Gates caved, but that he considered the situation and weighed the pros and cons. I also wonder if Matt Damon was mulling doing the show and decided he didn’t want to deal with it after Ben’s issues came up. This begs the question: if Affleck (and/or his people) are this controlling about his public image, what else have they covered up?

Here’s a segment from Affleck’s Finding Your Roots episode in which he learns that he had a spiritualist ancestor.