Ben Affleck: I was 'embarrassed' about my slave-owning ancestor

The Hollywood star’s request to get the material removed came to light in hacked Sony emails published online by whistleblower site WikiLeaks.

PBS is conducting an internal review following the revelations that producers of Finding Your Roots may have violated the network’s editorial standards following the star’s request.

The episode that featured the actor aired last October.

The star posted on his Facebook page: “After an exhaustive search of my ancestry for Finding Your Roots, it was discovered that one of my distant relatives was an owner of slaves.

“I didn’t want any television show about my family to include a guy who owned slaves. I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth.”

The star, who is married to actress Jennifer Garner, said he lobbied Henry Louis Gates, the Harvard scholar who hosts and produces the show, “the same way I lobby directors about what takes of mine I think they should use.”

“It’s important to remember that this isn’t a news programme. Finding Your Roots is a show where you voluntarily provide a great deal of information about your family, making you quite vulnerable,” he said.

“The assumption is that they will never be dishonest but they will respect your willingness to participate and not look to include things you think would embarrass your family.”

He added: “I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be included in the story. We deserve neither credit nor blame for our ancestors and the degree of interest in this story suggests that we are, as a nation, still grappling with the terrible legacy of slavery.”

The review by PBS and New York station WNET was confirmed by PBS spokeswoman Anne Bentley in statement. “We have been moving forward deliberately yet swiftly to conduct this review,” she said.