Months after PBS put Finding Your Roots on ice, the public broadcaster is bringing back the show. Henry Lewis Gates Jr.’s show was postponed after it was revealed that he allowed Ben Affleck to make requests.
Back in April, PBS and WNET, the local PBS station that produces the series, launched an internal investigation. Through emails leaked through the Sony Pictures hack, it was revealed that Affleck asked Gates not to mention his slave-owning ancestors. Gates relented and was forced to defend his show. Affleck later apologized, admitting that he was “embarrassed” to learn that he had an ancestor who owned slaves.
In June, PBS ultimately decided to postpone the show until further review. Today, PBS said that its review is complete and they have come up with a stricter process.
“It has become a more transparent process and a more rigorous process,” PBS chief programming executive Beth Hoppe told the Associated Press. “But essentially at its core these are personal stories about people who are finding out about their histories. That hasn't changed.”
Hoppe also told The Hollywood Reporter that Gates took the investigation “incredibly seriously,” adding that he was cooperative.
“I’m not going to say there weren’t some hard conversations,” Hoppe told THR. “But he is one of the pre-eminent scholars in America. We remain grateful to have him on PBS.”
Finding Your Roots will be back on Jan. 5 and the new season will feature Julianne Moore, Sen. John McCain, Norman Lear and Keenan Ivory Wayans. The premise of the show will remain the same, with Gates helping celebrities discover their family's history.