PBS has completed its internal review into the controversial Finding Your Roots episode that featured actor Ben Affleck, who asked host Henry Louis ‘Skip’ Gates to not mention a slave-owning ancestor. The public broadcaster has postponed the show’s third season and has not committed to a fourth season.
PBS and WNET, the local PBS station that produces the series, launched an internal investigation in April, after leaked Sony emails had revealed that Gates asked Sony Entertainment CEO Michael Lynton about Affleck’s request. That caused a public outcry that forced Affleck himself to write a long apology, admitting that he was “embarrassed” to discover that he had an ancestor that owned slaves.
The conclusions of the investigation were released on Wednesday. “PBS and WNET have determined that the series co-producers violated PBS standards by failing to shield the creative and editorial process from improper influence, and by failing to inform PBS or WNET of Mr. Affleck’s efforts to affect program content.,” PBS stated.
With that in mind, PBS has decided to pull Finding Your Roots from the schedule until the producers implement changes to make sure this never happens again. The show will also have to hire an extra researcher and an independent genealogist to review the already-produced season three episodes. PBS will also not commit to a fourth season until executives are happy with the changes.
Lastly, the Affleck episode will be pulled from online, home video and on-air distribution.
“The co-producers of Finding Your Roots have a strong track record of creating high-quality programming for PBS over many years,” Beth Hoppe, PBS Chief Programming Executive and General Manager, General Audience Programming, said in a statement. “Improved editorial and production processes will ensure that all future projects will adhere to PBS’ editorial guidelines.”
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image courtesy of INFphoto.com
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