Ben Affleck’s Slave Owner Ancestor
After the Sony e-mail hack so many things still seem to be surfacing I’m starting to wonder what people are thinking when they click send with e-mails. I’ve always believed that no one is perfect, not even me…trust me I’m not. But I also believe that if you’re a power celebrity you should know that nothing digital ever disappears. Especially someone like Ben Affleck who seems to portray himself as knowing it all, to the point where he often sounds as if he might run for public office.You expect smart people to run for office, people who know the basics at least.
And then there is this:
Hacked Sony emails reveal that actor-directorBen Affleck requested that his slave owner ancestor be removed from his family tree on PBS program Finding Your Roots.
In a series of WikiLeaks emails, the genealogy program’s host Henry Louis Gates, Jr. emailed Sony chief Michael Lynton asking “advice” on the actor’s request, according to New York Daily News.
“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,” Gates emailed Lynton in the July 22, 2014 email chain.
Gates went on to say that if word got out of the censoring, the brand would be tarnished and, “even for Batman,” would be a violation of PBS rules.
I think it’s very revealing, literally and figuratively. Of course they did edit this information out of the show, which shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone. It comes with Affleck’s place of privilege, as a mega star and a straight white male. That’s how it works. There’s a link to the PBS web site where they “explain” why they self-censored. We all know how that works, too.
Debra Messing Wanted More Will and Grace
I remember the first time I saw Will and Grace on TV. It was thrilling to see gay characters anywhere, let alone a sitcom on network TV. However, as the years went by I stopped watching for various reasons and the thrill disappeared as each season approached.
That by no means is a bad review or a negative reflection on my part. I think that show broke ground in more ways than one. And I know for a fact that repressed, closeted gay men who can’t come out are still watching this show, and still discovering this show, in places like Youtube and it’s actually helping them cope with their situations. And that sort of thing can never be played down. Will and Grace did more than just entertain people. It helped them live their lives.
Here’s what Debra Messing had to say:
“I guess I would change the fact that we stopped after eight years,” Messing told HuffPo Live. “It was such a happy time, and we were all really exhausted by that point and it was the right thing to do at that time, but now obviously time has passed, and I watch the show with my son who laughs at it and I think it would’ve been really great to do it a few more years.”
I agree with her. You can check this out here.
Don’t Call Hillary a “Gal”
This article is interesting to me because I supported Secretary Clinton when she ran for President in 2008. I voted for her in the primaries, where she won Pennsylvania by a wide margin. I was still supporting her when the DNC gave her nomination to someone else. Of course that’s all in the past now, and Clinton has proven she’s about as tough as anyone can get. But this article is a little ironic and patronizing, being that the entire LGBT community was NOT there to support Hillary when she needed it the most. And now they’re back.
Mike Yowell, having coffee with Clinton during her visit to Council Bluffs, Iowa, said: “I was thrilled when you recently urged the Supreme Court to rule in favor of marriage equality. I was like ‘That’s our gal. Yes.'”
Yowell clenched his fist and said: ‘So thank you.’
Yowell told Clinton about how in the 1980s, he and his partner adopted a baby girl who had a really rough upbringing and who they were told would never even make it through high school.
Aside from the fact that I think this Yowell guy sounds like a first rate idiot, someone should really point out to him that you don’t refer to the future President of the United States as a “gal.” That makes you a misogynist and dumb as shit.
Other than that, it’s nice to see the LGBT community finally supporting Hillary after all this time.
