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Ben Affleck has spoken up on PBS show controversy after it was reported that he asked "Finding Your Roots" not to reveal information about his slave-owning ancestor. "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," he said in a statement posted on Facebook on Tuesday, April 21.

He admitted that he "lobbied" Professor Henry Louis Gates Jr. a.k.a. Skip to edit out portion of the show. "Skip decided what went into the show. I lobbied him the same way I lobby directors about what takes of mine I think they should use. This is the collaborative creative process. Skip agreed with me on the slave owner but made other choices I disagreed with. In the end, it's his show and I knew that going in. I'm proud to be his friend and proud to have participated," he revealed.

The Academy Award-winning writer continued, "It's important to remember that this isn't a news program. 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 will never be dishonest but they will respect your willingness to participate and not look to include things you think would embarrass your family."

Extending his apologies, 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. It is an examination well worth continuing. I am glad that my story, however indirectly, will contribute to that discussion. 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."

In the meantime, PBS is conducting an internal review on possible violation of the network's editorial standards on the documentary series. "We have been moving forward deliberately yet swiftly to conduct this review," said the network's spokeswoman Anne Bentley.

The issue came to light after Gates' email to Sony Pictures co-chairman and chief executive, Michael Lynton, was published by WikiLeaks last week along with other hacked Sony emails. In his email, Gates wrote, "Here's my dilemma, confidentially, 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. ... We've never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He's a megastar. What do we do?"

Lynton replied, "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."