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AN INVESTIGATION IS under way after a television programme in the US discovered that Ben Affleck had an ancestor who was a slave-owner – but didn’t air the discovery following a request from the actor.
Affleck has apologised for making the request, saying that he was ‘embarrassed’ by his ancestor, while the network which aired the programme said it is carrying out an internal review.
The programme called Finding Your Roots, which is similar to Who Do You Think You Are, looked at Affleck’s family history.
In a statement, the PBS network said it is investigating whether its editorial stands were observed.
The programme’s host has defended the decision not to include the slave-owner ancestor, saying that he focused on the most interesting aspects of Affleck’s history, including a Revolutionary War ancestor, a great-grandfather who enjoyed the occult, and Affleck’s mother.
Writing on Facebook last night, Affleck said he had asked the programme maker not to include the story of his distant relative when the discovery was made.
“I was embarrassed. The very thought left a bad taste in my mouth,” he wrote.
The Batman star said that he had lobbied the show creator not to include the story “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,” Affleck wrote. “Finding Your Roots is a show where you voluntarily provide a great deal of information about your family, making you quite vulnerable.
The assumption is that they [the programme makers] will never be dishonest but they will respect your willingness to participate and not look to include things you think would embarrass your family.
The Oscar-winning director and actor said that he regretted what he had done, and noted the backlash against him for trying to edit his family history.
“We deserve neither credit not 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,” he wrote.
How it was leaked
Affleck’s request to the programme makers became public last week when it was published by Wikileaks as part of a trove of emails and internal communications accessed during a massive hack of Sony last year.
The programme’s presenter, Harvard lecturer Henry Louis Gates, had emailed the chief executive of Sony – who was a friend of his – to discuss Affleck’s request.
The Sony executive advised taking out the slave-owner information ‘if no-one knows’, but noted that ‘if it gets out that you are editing the material based on this kind of sensitivity then it gets tricky’.
Gates said that not including the story could ‘compromise our integrity’ but ultimately went ahead with the decision.
After the story initially broke, PBS said Gates and his producers “made an independent editorial judgement to choose the most compelling narrative”.
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So much unknown – who are these “foreign-backed terrorists” and why have they got it in for what was such a beautiful city.
@Anthony Clark: There are no foreign terrorists, years of boiling anger spilled over, the riots go out of control in Almaty and a few other cities.
The government is claiming they are foreign terrorists probably because the Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO) can only be evoked if a member country is attacked by an outside country, they invited in Russia and a few other member countries in to help with security. The real reason they are there I read is not to police the streets, they are there to threaten the police and national guard so they don’t switch over to the protestors
Calling rioters foreign terrorists is typical of Soviet and post-Soviet dictatorships, they then round up people and disappear them. There may be some credence that the violence in Almaty was a fight between factions in the ruling elite vying for power, but this might be just a wild rumour.
Here’s a description of the riots in Almaty by one of the rioters:
https://www.reddit.com/r/Kazakhstan/comments/s0q0k7/witnesss_experience_about_the_protests/
Some Posts I found:
“Hey you all, I’ve made a post about how I couldn’t reach my XXXXXX who lives in XXXXXX. I’ve managed to reach some of his friends and they told me he got arrested. I honestly can’t believe that cause my brother is a very compliant guy, very obedient to the laws and even a bit paranoid about breaking rules. He wouldn’t even want to take me on the back of his bicycle when I visited last time cause it’s not allowed. So not a person I could see getting arrested rightfully. However last time there were protests in Russia they arrested random people too and I’m wondering if anything like that could have happened. … ”
“Sorry man, might be best if you stay away for a while though. Odds are fair you might get picked up just for being related. Good luck to you and all your loved ones.”
“I also fear that a very good friend of mine got arrested. I had contact with him on monday for a short time. He seemed to be fine. But since then nothing. First I thought it’s the internet not working again, but it seems to work in Almaty for some hours each day at least. He flew to KZ over the holidays to spend time with his family. As far as I can tell he was not involved in anything. They locked themselves in.”
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https:// asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
@Kerrill Thornhill: There were no beheadings. That was an unverified claim from the dictatorship.
“All these talks of beheading…never a photo. I’m not saying they didn’t happen but anyone seen evidence of these? Beheading are very violent and almost wouldn’t fit the nature of this riot.”
“And yet a lot of people believe them without question. Its dangerous.” – Kazakh citizens.
Oh, the ONE biological lab near Alamty, 3 day old Russian propaganda.
“Russia claimed a possible pathogen leak occurred at military lab in Kazakhstan; Kazakhstan denies facility was seized by rioters”
“‘This is not true. The facility is being guarded,’ said the health ministry which is responsible for the Central Reference Laboratory, in Almaty.”
“Now miskovites will create 1001 lie to hold occupation of Kazakhstan.”
“This lab is a popular boogeyman among Putinbots.”
Cant get over the faux outrage on social media/FakeNews media over the numbers detained. This was an attempted coup involving what appears to be a violent element that came in from outside the country. ~20 police dead, >750 injured, government buildings, transport hubs were seized, etc. By contrast in the US, the Jan 6th protest was a protest that descended into a riot. Completely overblown. 1 person killed on the day at the riot (a protestor named Ashli Babbitt) yet well over 700 people were detained, many in solitary confinement for months for walking around the Capital.
God bless Kazakhstan
Dead right by Putin, take control and arrest these anarchists
@David Jordan: Hi David, you’ll probably appreciate these articles: This covers how Jihadis have been slipped into the country from Afghanistan – which explain the beheadings: https:// thecradle.co/Article/columns/5668?s=09
This refers to close links between the US and the recently deposed ruler, with details of US involvement in biological labs in Khazakstan: https://asiatimes.com/2022/01/kazakhstan-becomes-toxic-graveyard-for-us-diplomacy/?s=09
If I might quote a line: “Why is Kazakhstan a sought-after partner? Simply put, the country provides unique access to ethnic Russian and Chinese groups as “specimens” for conducting field research involving highly pathogenic potential biological-warfare agents.”.
The Ruling elite have been incredibly corrupt as you say, but they like stashing their money in the West for some reason: https:// http://www.rferl.org/a/kazakhstan-nazarbayev-family-wealth/31013097.html
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