Joe.My.God. LGBT News
CBS News reports:
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has formally apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather for her mistreatment at the 1973 Academy Awards, where the Native American actress and civil rights activist was booed and ridiculed as she declined the Best Actor award on Marlon Brando’s behalf.
“The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified,” Academy President David Rubin wrote in a “statement of reconciliation” sent to Littefeather in June, and posted on the Academy’s website Monday.
“The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. For this, we offer both our deepest apologies and our sincere admiration.”
From the Academy’s post:
Littlefeather’s speech is highlighted in the museum’s Academy Awards History gallery, and she was interviewed this spring by Jacqueline Stewart, Director and President of the Academy Museum, for the Academy Museum Podcast episode “Marlon Brando Cannot Accept this Very Generous Award” about the 1973 Oscars®, the Academy’s A.frame article, and a Visual History as part of the Academy’s Oral History Projects (to be released in September 2022).
“Regarding the Academy’s apology to me, we Indians are very patient people—it’s only been 50 years! We need to keep our sense of humor about this at all times. It’s our method of survival,” said Littlefeather.
“I never thought I’d live to see the day for this program to take place, featuring such wonderful Native performers and Bird Runningwater, a television and film producer who also guided the Sundance Institute’s commitment to Indigenous filmmakers for twenty years through the Institute’s Labs and Sundance Film Festival.
“This is a dream come true. It is profoundly heartening to see how much has changed since I did not accept the Academy Award 50 years ago. I am so proud of each and every person who will appear on stage.”
The Academy has finally apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather, after she was booed and heckled and almost violently assaulted by a drunken John Wayne in 1973 — and it only them 50 years. pic.twitter.com/pSnYlQ3uAe
— Lakota Man (@LakotaMan1) August 15, 2022
Just a reminder that it took 6 security guards to keep John Wayne from rushing the stage and attack Sacheen Littlefeather at the Academy Awards while Clint Eastwood mocked her request of TV and Film industry to treat indigenous people as humans. pic.twitter.com/ewX2G6hVHU
— AskAubry ? (@ask_aubry) August 16, 2022
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather, an Apache and Yaqui actress and activist who was booed onstage at the Oscars in 1973 after she refused the best actor award on behalf of Marlon Brando. https://t.co/dutu0XW2d6
— The New York Times (@nytimes) August 16, 2022
Nearly 50 years after Sacheen Littlefeather stood on the Academy Awards stage on behalf of Marlon Brando to speak about the depiction of Native Americans in Hollywood films, the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences apologized to her for the abuse she endured. pic.twitter.com/tIhFlQ3MXa
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 16, 2022