A hacked Sony e-mail posted by WikiLeaks Friday reveals that Ben Affleck demanded that the PBS show “Finding Your Roots” remove the fact that one of the actor’s ancestors owned slaves. In a July 22, 2014, e-mail, the show’s host, Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates Jr., asked Sony USA boss Michael Lynton what he should do about Affleck’s request: “One of our guests has asked us to edit out something about one of his ancestors — the fact that he owned slaves. Now, four or five of our guests this season descend from slave owners, including Ken Burns. We’ve never had anyone ever try to censor or edit what we found. He’s a megastar. What do we do?” Lynton advised that the revelation be removed. “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.” (The e-mail exchange was first reported Friday by the New York Post.) Gates says the show’s producers know, as well as Affleck’s publicist and agent. In an e-mail back to Lynton, Gates wrote “To do this would be a violation of PBS rules. . . . It would embarrass [Affleck] and compromise our integrity. . . . Once we open the door to censorship, we lose control of the brand.” The episode, which aired last October, included no mention of the slave-owning ancestor. Affleck’s rep could not be reached for comment.