Press Play with Madeleine Brand
Ben Affleck, PBS, and Whitewashing a Slave-Holding Ancestor
What happens when academia and Hollywood collide? Ben Affleck has now admitted that he asked Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of the PBS show Finding Your Roots, to omit the fact that one of his ancestors owned slaves. The cover-up was revealed after WikiLeaks published emails between Gates and Sony Pictures co-chairman Michael Lynton.
By Madeleine Brand • • 1 min readWhat happens when academia and Hollywood collide? Ben Affleck has now admitted that he asked Henry Louis Gates, Jr., of the PBS show Finding Your Roots, to omit the fact that one of his ancestors owned slaves. The cover-up was revealed after WikiLeaks published emails between Gates and Sony Pictures co-chairman Michael Lynton. Affleck wrote on his Facebook page yesterday that he felt embarrassed by his history but now regrets the decision to cover it up. Is this reflective of a bigger dilemma in how our culture handles the topic of slavery?
Madeleine Brand
Host, 'Press Play'
Jolie Myers
Managing Producer, 'Press Play'
Matt Holzman
Producer, 'The Document'
Anna Scott
Former KCRW Housing and Homelessness Reporter
Carol Anderson
Professor of African American Studies at Emory University and author of “One Person No Vote: How Voter Suppression Is Destroying Our Democracy.”