Following an apology from the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences for the hatred Sacheen Littlefeather received for her remarks at the 1973 Oscars, she has responded. The actor and activist was the first Native American woman to speak on the Academy Awards stage over 50 years ago. Marlon Brando asked her to do so so that she could discuss how Native Americans are portrayed in Hollywood movies.
Brando was unable to receive the Best Actor Oscar for The Godfather, according to Littlefeather, because of “the persecution of American Indians today by the film industry,” she said in the well-known, 60-second speech. President David Rubin apologised to Littlefeather and acknowledged the “abuse you faced because of this comment” in a message posted to the Academy website on Monday (15 August).
Read more:
- Metallica To Headline Global Citizen NYC Concert
- Spider Man 4 When Will The New Spider Man Movie Coming Out?
Rubin called Hollywood’s treatment of Littlefeather “unwarranted and unreasonable.” The emotional toll you have endured and the damage to your own career in our business are irreparable, he wrote in the letter dated June 18. Too long has passed without anyone recognizing the courage you shown. We express our heartfelt admiration and our profound regrets for this at the same time.
Littlefeather, who was 26 at the time, received some jeers from the audience throughout her address. After her speech, she claimed to have been led off stage by two security personnel in 2020, adding to the BBC that this was “a good thing” since John Wayne, who had been “furious with Marlon and furious with me,” had planned to drag Littlefeather off stage personally.
Littlefeather’s address, according to Rubin’s letter, “continues to remind us of the requirement of respect and the importance of human dignity,” The 75-year-old Littlefeather will be hosted by the Academy on September 17 for an evening of “dialogue, healing, and celebration,” it was announced on Monday.
After the Oscars apologised, Littlefeather said it was “profoundly heartening to see how much has changed since I did not accept the Academy Award 50 years ago.” We Indians are pretty patient people; it’s just been 50 years, in regards to the Academy’s apologies to me. Littlefeather continued, “We need to always maintain our sense of humour about this. It is our strategy for surviving.
Littlefeather discussed her reasons for speaking out in 1973 in a podcast she recorded earlier this year with Jacqueline Stewart, a cinema researcher and the head of the Academy Museum. Littlefeather declared, “I thought that there should be an inclusion of Native people, Black people, Asian people, Chicano people – I felt there should be an inclusion of everyone.”