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Affleck's ancestry was traced by Harvard scholar Henry Louis
Gates Jr, known as Skip, for an episode in the second season of
his Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) series "Finding Your
Roots," in which well-known personalities can discover more
about their family history.
"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," Affleck said in a statement on his
Facebook page.
"I regret my initial thoughts that the issue of slavery not be
included in the story," he added.
Representatives for PBS and Gates did not respond to requests
for comment.
The issue came to light after anti-secrecy website Wikileaks
released a searchable database of more than 30,000 documents
that were stolen by hacker from Sony Corp's Sony Pictures
Entertainment in a massive cyber attack last year.
Affleck said in his statement that Gates had final say in what
was included in the episode, which aired last October, and he
had "lobbied" Gates on what elements of his family history to
use in the show.
The Oscar-winning actor-director added that he assumed the show
"will respect your willingness to participate and not look to
include things you think would embarrass your family."
"While I don't like that the guy is an ancestor, I am happy that
aspect of our country's history is being talked about," he said.
(Reporting by Piya Sinha-Roy; Editing by Lisa Shumaker)
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