Skip Gates is one of the least credible history public figures that ever slithered in front of a camera.
Bio : Henry Louis Gates Jr. (born September 16, 1950) is an American literary critic, professor, historian, and filmmaker who serves as the Alphonse Fletcher University Professor and the director of the Hutchins Center for African and African American Research at Harvard University. He is a trustee of the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History.[1] He rediscovered the earliest known African-American novels and has published extensively on the recognition of African-American literature as part of the Western canon.
In addition to producing and hosting previous series on the history and genealogy of prominent American figures, since 2012, Gates has been host of the television series Finding Your Roots on PBS. The series combines the work of expert researchers in genealogy, history, and historical research in genetics to tell guests about the lives and histories of their ancestors.
As a source of history and being impartial he has proven to be untrustworthy , unreliable and compromised in relaying information to the public and those institutions that choose to employ or do business with him are just as culpable in spreading misinformation and falsehood to the masses. There are multiple examples proven like the fact that Gates omitted Hollywood Actor Ben Affleck’s Slave owning ancestor history yet time and time again Gates perpetuates the false narratives , stereotypes and storylines regarding Indigenous history. Gates was even suspended by PBS with the delay of Season Three of the program “Finding your Roots” which is one of the main contributors of falsehood in the media today. Gates also told a room full of people about the fraudulent acts of DNA results making up “African” results literally out of thin air for desired results or for better Public Relations.
That is another indication that he will do absolutely anything for ratings with zero credibility. As a Host of the program he regularly downplays results of Black Guest and delivers results with Buck Dancing Pleasure any results that will please his White guest that would make Step and Fetch It proud. “Skip and Fetch It” makes mockery of Indigenous heritage continuously when it's tied to those of more melanated groups that look like so-Called Black people. PBS lack credibility to bring him back and only a fool would allow this fraud to continue to deliver results to them when he has proven he will omit the truth when needed or when he wants.
If not for Wikileaks being revealed the public would have never known the diabolical sick mind that Skip Gates has put into action in his cover-ups.
Why Hasn’t Henry Louis Gates Jr. Been Sacked From Finding Your Roots?
One last post on Gates-Gate, I swear. First, I encourage you to read our original story, in which the Sony email leaks showed that Henry Louis Gates Jr.—executive producer and host of PBS’ Finding Your Roots, a show that traces the ancestry of celebrities—had capitulated to a demand from Ben Affleck and censored a segment of the show revealing that one of Affleck’s forebears was a slave-owner. The emails with Sony CEO Michael Lynton leave no doubt that Gates knew the move would be ethically dubious, and Lynton even advised him against it in no uncertain terms. When explaining the decision later, before the Sony leak undermined him, Gates compounded the mistake by lying about his motivation, saying he was simply “focusing on the most interesting aspects of [Affleck’s] ancestry.”
Next, read yesterday’s post on the findings of a PBS investigation that resulted in the show being suspended. Among the demands that PBS made before continuing the third season, much less renewing the show for a fourth, were that Finding Your Roots hire an independent fact-checker and genealogist. Which confused me, because facts and genealogy weren’t the problem—Gates going against his principles to accommodate a celebrity was the problem.
But that seemed to be that, until today, when PBS ombudsman Michael Getler released his own report making the same point I made yesterday: The only obvious problem here is Gates himself.
“Gates..clearly knew the editorial and credibility stakes involved and the potential violation it posed of PBS editorial standards,” Getler wrote. “But after consulting with Sony executive Michael Lynton, Gates dropped that factoid from the program, without telling PBS or WNET.” After summarizing the conclusions of the PBS investigation, Getler turned to Gates:
But there are two things that are still bothersome to me. One of them is something that a fact-checker and independent genealogist won’t catch. The problem with the main issue surrounding this episode ultimately was Gates’ judgment, not the facts. One of Affleck’s great-great-great grandfathers did own slaves. But the egregious error here was in seeking and then apparently letting advice from a commercial source (Sony) have some influence on a producer, and the producer appearing to act on that advice. That is deadly for public broadcasting.
Getler concluded by pointing out a factual inaccuracy from the episode involving Affleck’s mother, but his central point was that PBS essentially missed the point—and the point was bright and glaring. In my mind, there are three ways the network could have reacted to Gates-Gate that made sense, in order of severity:
1. Admit that Gates made a huge ethical error and blatantly ignored basic journalistic standards. Take an “everybody makes mistakes, but he has learned from them and it won’t happen again” approach.
2. Suspend Gates, with the same rationale as above.
3. Fire Gates.
All of these decisions seem legitimate to me, with nos. 1 or 2 being the most level-headed. But the lack of any real censure, and the misdirection with the genealogist and fact-checker demands, seems like an obvious attempt at lame whitewashing—which is exactly how Gates screwed up with Affleck. It makes you wonder whether integrity has really been restored at all.
https://www.pastemagazine.com/tv/why-hasnt-henry-louis-gates-jr-been-sacked-from-fi
