Ben Affleck wants to stop the exposure of his slave-owning ancestors in PBS' documentary series, "Finding Your Roots," ABC News has learned.
The "Argo" director asked the network's executives to edit out the detail of his family tree after it was exposed during the filming of "Finding Your Roots."
Program host Henry Louis Gates Jr. asked for an advice from a top Sony executive regarding Affleck's request, according to a hacked email posted by WikiLeaks, a famous whistle blower site.
". . . 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," Gates told Michael Lynton, Sony chief, in the email chain in July 2014.
"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," Lynton replied to Gates' message.
Gates suggested that censoring or editing out Affleck's roots could taint their branding if others would find out. Moreover, it is considered a violation to PBS' rules, New York Daily News reported.
Affleck, who was filming in Detroit for the movie "Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice" during that time, was never mentioned in the email exchange. Instead, he was referred as "megastar" and "Batman."
"Ultimately, I maintain editorial control on all of my projects and, with my producers, decide what will make for the most compelling program," according to the statement Gates released in PBS' site, as a response to the issue.
"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," he stated in defense to their decision to edit out that part of Affleck's lineage.
Gates, together with his producers, went over the footage of the episode and they made an independent judgement to choose the most compelling story, a representative from PBS said.
Despite Affleck's family rather dark history, the 42-year-old actor is a renowned humanitarian. Affleck explored the possibility of being more actively involved in philantrophy in 2007.
Affleck and Whitney Williams co-founded the Eastern Congo Initiative, which supports Africans finding solutions to African problems, in 2010.