NEW YORK – United States broadcaster, PBS, is postponing its third series of Finding Your Roots, after the show omitted “embarrassing” details about Ben Affleck’s ancestry.
According to the reports, a review into an episode, which aired in October, concluded Affleck lobbied producers about ditching details about his slave-owning ancestors.
New York based TV PBS has said it plans to hire a fact-checker and an independent genealogist.
PBS’ Finding Your Roots, researches celebrity family histories.
Following its investigation, PBS concluded producers violated network standards by allowing Batman star Affleck to have “improper influence” and “by failing to inform PBS or [New York TV station] WNET of Mr. Affleck’s efforts to affect programme content”.
The public service broadcaster said it would not commit to a fourth season of the series “until we are satisfied that the editorial standards of the series have been successfully raised to a level in which we can have confidence”.
Affleck’s request to omit details about a slave-owning relative from the show came to light with the publication of hacked Sony emails between the series host, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr, and Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton.
Gates is professor and director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University
“I lobbied him the same way I lobby directors about what takes of mine I think they should use,” Affleck wrote on Facebook, when the email exchange came to light earlier this year.
“I didn’t want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed,” the actor said.
Reports claim that at the time, Gates defended his editorial choices: “Ultimately, 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,” he said in a statement, released in April this year.
In a statement released on Wednesday, Gates thanked PBS for its “thoughtful internal review”.
“I sincerely regret not discussing my editing rationale with our partners at PBS and WNET, and I apologise for putting PBS and its member stations in the position of having to defend the integrity of their programming.”
The third series of the show will be delayed to ensure “improved editorial and production processes”, PBS said in their statement.
It added that the episode in which Affleck’s ancestry is examined will be withdrawn from all forms of distribution, including digital streaming and DVD.
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