An apology 50 years later: The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently publicly apologized to Indian woman Sacheen Littlefeather for the injustice she suffered for attending the 1973 Oscars. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recently publicly apologized to Indian woman Sacheen Littlefeather for the injustice she suffered by attending the 1973 Academy Awards.
Littlefeather’s appearance at that year’s ceremony was one of the most famous moments in Oscar history – Marlon Brando won the Oscar for ‘The Godfather’ and was not there to receive the award, protesting the American film industry’s unfair treatment of He was not there to receive the award, protesting the injustice done to Indians by the American film industry, and entrusted Apache Indian activist & actor Littlefeather, then 26 years old, to refuse the trophy in his place.
At that ceremony, when the award was presented, Littlefeather came on stage, waved his hand and refused the trophy, and after introducing himself (“Hello, I’m Sacheen Littlefeather, president of the National Native American Positive Image Committee”), said. “On behalf of Marlon Brando tonight …… (Brando) I regret that I will not be accepting this generous trophy due to the way the American Indian people are treated by the film industry today …… “
At this point, some people began to boo her from the stage, and Littlefeather said “excuse me” before continuing to insist on a short speech, referring to the Wounded Knee incident (at the same time as the 1973 Oscars, Indian activists gathered at the 19th century Northern America white vs. At the same time as the 1973 Oscars, Indian activists gathered at the site of the 1890 Wounded Knee Massacre, the symbol of the end of the war between whites and Indians in Northern America, to protest the ongoing injustice against Indians. At the time, the U.S. Department of Justice forced the news media not to report the story.)
Littlefeather was allegedly told by Brando not to touch the trophy before receiving it, and was ordered by Oscar producer Howard Koch to “keep his speech on stage to 60 seconds”.
Minutes before receiving the award, Koch told Littlefeather that he would have security arrest her if her speech ran out of time.
Brando had previously given her an eight-page printout of her speech, and Littlefeather knew it would be impossible to finish it in under a minute, so she had to improvise on her own.
Not only was she booed on stage and threatened with arrest if her speech ran out of time, Littlefeather said she was waiting in the wings to get on the podium when celebrity actor John Wayne rushed up and tried to attack her and was stopped.
And after the ceremony, Littlefeather was subjected to personal attacks and questions until 2012, when comedian Dennis Miller called her a “stripper sent by Marlon Brando to receive the Oscar” and questioned her “not Indian enough”.
Her acting career also suffered, as she appeared in a number of film roles before turning down the trophy on her behalf, and afterwards, Littlefeather said, the federal government threatened to shut down any film or TV project or talk show that used her.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has a Northern America Native American Coalition. This year, Bird Runningwater, a Cheyenne producer and co-chair of the coalition, contacted Littlefeather to say that the Academy’s museum has been promoting an “oral history” project, hoping to take a broader, more inclusive look at the Academy’s past. They also re-examined the injustice done to Littlefeather at the Oscars.
The Academy’s latest announcement is that it will hold an event on Sept. 17 to formally apologize to Littlefeather.
A letter of apology from the Academy was sent to Littlefeather on June 18 by Jacqueline Stewart, director of the Academy Museum.
The letter reads that the reason for apologizing to her “now, nearly 50 years later” is that “the abuse you suffered as a result of your words on the podium was unjustified and unjustified, the emotional burden and career loss you suffered as a result was irreparable, and the courage you displayed went unrecognized for far too long. For this, we offer our deepest apologies and praise.”
Littlefeather, now 75, now responds, “I am stunned, I never thought I would hear, personally, (the Academy’s letter of apology) in my lifetime. in 1973, when I stood on the awards stage, I was alone.”
Upon receiving the apology letter from Stewart two months earlier, Littlefeather recalled to her, “I didn’t get up there to receive any compliments, I did it just because my ancestors were with me, because what I was saying was the truth.”
