Academy Issues Formal Apology to Sacheen Littlefeather for 1973 Oscars: ‘I Never Thought I’d Live to See the Day’
By: By LARISHA PAUL - Rolling Stone
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Academy Issues Formal Apology to Sacheen Littlefeather for 1973 Oscars: ‘I Never Thought I’d Live to See the Day’
The statement of apology will be read in its entirety at the Academy Museum on Sept. 17, when the organization will host “an evening of conversation, healing, and celebration,” to honor Littlefeather
Native American Sacheen Littlefeather speaks at the 45th Academy Awards. On behalf of Marlon Brando, she refused the Best Actor award he was awarded for his role in Godfather. Brando refused the award because of the treatment by the Americans of the American Indian. (Getty Images)
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will formally apologize to Native American civil rights activist Sacheen Littlefeather for her treatment at the 1973 Oscars ceremony. During the now-historic night, Littlefeather took the stage in place of Marlon Brando and, at his request, declined his award, using the time to instead draw attention to the stereotyping of Native Americans in film and TV as well as the South Dakota Wounded Knee protest. Instead of praising her insight, the audience – and individuals backstage – booed and heckled the activist, who was later threatened with assault and arrest.
“I was stunned. I never thought I’d live to see the day I would be hearing this, experiencing this,” Littlefeather told the Hollywood Reporter of the apology, revealing that she received a private statement from the Academy in June. “When I was at the podium in 1973, I stood there alone.”
The statement of apology will be read in its entirety at the Academy Museum on Sept. 17, when the organization will host “an evening of conversation, healing, and celebration” to honor 75-year-old Littlefeather while reflecting on the lasting impact of that infamous night at the Academy Awards .
“As you stood on the Oscars stage in 1973 to not accept the Oscar on behalf of Marlon Brando, in recognition of the misrepresentation and mistreatment of Native American people by the film industry, you made a powerful statement that continues to remind us of the necessity of respect and the importance of human dignity,” then-Academy president David Rubin wrote in the organization’s apology letter, dated June 18, according to THR . “The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. 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.”
In response, Littlefeather shared: “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. 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.”
She added: “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.”
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It only took half a century to do the right thing. The apology should also be read at the next Academy Awards Oscar Night.
In Ojibwe ?
About damn time.
I agree totally, Kavika. It has been far too long to finally do the right thing by Shacheen Littlefeather.
And I'm wondering if the new movie "Prey", which has an all Native American cast, had any influence in the sudden apology after such a very long time, as there may be some of its stars, other cast members, directors or others involved in making the movie who might be nominated or even up for an award. The academy may not want a repeat of the booing that happened with Shacheen Littlefeather to tarnish its reputation even more and/or bring the wrath of the Native American Tribes.
Just wondering. It just seems a bit odd that the apology comes out of the blue after half as century
A couple of other moments in popular culture that Native Americans are having on TV include Dark Winds on AMC and Yellowstone on Paramount.
Yellowstone is an interesting show. I think it might have more appeal to conservatives than to liberals but I'll be damned it's got to something to say for all of us and the Native Americans in the story lines are central as opposed to ornamental.
I truly apologize, I misspelled Sacheen's first name. No excuse.
I don't have a TV, but, I have read about Yellowstone. Sounds like it is a great series. I do get Hulu and a few other programs that I can watch on the Internet. Some are not available yet though. But, I'll keep watch out for them.
As for Dark Winds, thanks for the heads up on that one. I have not heard of that one. I'll check it out.
I usually blame it on my bluetooth keyboard and not wearing my reading glasses.
Philo is an affordable streaming service at $25 a month. That's what I use now for a cable TV substitute in addition to an antenna. They carry Paramount which Yellowstone appears on but you have to wait for the episodes to air in order to DVR them in the cloud. Paramont will no doubt do a Yellowstone marathon in the near future because they have a new season coming in the Fall.
What I like about Hulu is that you can periodically suspend it for a few months at a time. Who can afford to pay for all this TV all the time?
LOL! A Bluetooth keyboard I don't have, but, the keyboard I have likes to think it knows what I want to type.
I just get the basic Hulu, And like you, I like to pause my subscription in between the programs I want to watch. However, I can get some other programs for free to watch the type of movies and series I like to watch. Mostly the historical ones where I can learn about the different countries customs, traditions and various beliefs. So I not only see great movies and other programs and learn interesting and educational things as well.
Sling is better at $35 a month - a bit more variety.
Hulu to me has little to offer - other than the Golden Girls - and I have all the DVDs.
Most streaming channels you can get with a tv you can also get with just the internet, including HBO Max, Amazon Prime, NetFlix, Hulu, Disney, Paramount, and Peacock. Of course most of those cost money every month, but you can get them without a tv.
One of the best is "Reservation Dogs'' on Hulu, it was renewed for another season and was won or been nominated for a number of awards.
Dark Winds has been renewed for a second season and is based on Tony Hillerman books.
Excellent acting and truly indigenous.
I haven't seen it, but my wife said it was great!
I think we are going to start watching this one soon. It looks fantastic.
"Reservation Dogs" are on my MyStuff list as is "Yellowstone", and I just recently added "Dark Winds" and "Prey" to my list. I am really glad that they are now making series and movies that feature Native American casts and story lines. And I'm looking forward to many more coming on board in the years to come.
I guess the entertainment industry has finally come to terms that not all Indigenous people are nothing but "lazy, ignorant, drunks and drug addicts looking for free handouts" as they have been been made out to be for decades.
And that too, imo, is about time.
Very true, John. I find that Hulu gives me the kind of series/movies I like to watch. As well as a few other sites that are no cost. I don't have as lot of time to watch movies or series, so I limit my selection to the sites that I am really interested in investing the time to watch, and be able to learn from as well as for their entertainment value.
Did you see the Prey one? I was curious what you thought.
As you know I watch lots of movies, and seeing them on a 54 inch screen is preferable to an 18 inch screen, since most movies have been made to view on a theatre screen.
I am sure that they must look much better on a 54 in screen, but, when watched even on a 21 in screen such as I have they are much better to watch than not being able to see them at all.
Pluto tv is a pretty good deal for the price. It’s free.
Pluto is basically the cable channels you get when you get 400 channels. Pluto's are the ones up in the 300's.
Nevertheless, there are good things to watch on Pluto.
Haven't heard of Pluto. Sounds Interesting though. I'll have to look them up. Thanks for the heads up. (smile)
With my eyes the way they are at my age the best view of TV content I get is with my reading glasses in front of my computer monitor. I adjust the screen to whatever size I want since my monitor screen is a fairly large one.
I watch a larger screen in the living room with my wife but the experience on the smaller screen is my favorite view.
I live in a studio apt so there is not a lot of space. I had to make a choice of having either my desktop computer or a TV. Being as I don't watch much TV anyway I chose my desktop, as it affords me what I am most interested in doing and watching.
Sort of a loose continuation of Longmire, where Zahn McLaren continues his role as a
police chief on the Navajo Rez.
Excellent show.
It's not here yet, but their web site says they are working on it.
Dark winds are taken from the books by Tony Hillerman and the series continues with his main characters, Joe Leaphorn, Jim Cree and Bernadette Manuelito.
Darn good series with REAL Indians playing REEL Indians.
In fairness to Pluto the channels below 300 kind of suck these days too. It's just way too much reality TV on all these networks these days. I can't believe you have to subscribe to Paramount+ to watch Star Trek universe tv shows.
We've gotten way off the supposed topic for this news story: the apology from the Academy to Sacheen Littlefeather. But the common element here is how much money these TV/Movie studios make, how much power they have, and how little they really care about the rest of us.
I didn't realize there was a series of books behind this series.
These days whenever someone asks me if I've read a book I should probably tell them I'm waiting for the cable series to come out.
As I've already said, I don't mind such tangential comments as long as they're not nasty. I think members should feel comfortable letting loose with things that are on their minds provided they don't intentionally try to make a mess.
I'm mostly Irish (Catholic) with a touch of Scottish. The Scottish in me is a footnote even though my last name is actually Scottish.
One of the things that bugs me about my fellow Irishmen here in America is how quickly they forgot where they came from. Ireland was England's first colony and northern Ireland remains a British colony to this day. The English set about erasing the cultures and identities immediately around them: the Scots, the Welch, the Irish. The English brutally occupied and settled Ireland. They took away the culture and language and they took the land for themselves. During the Irish famines there was enough food produced in Ireland to feed the Irish. It was instead shipped to England. The Irish were the first victims of the British Empire and the training ground for the rest that would follow.
It breaks my heart when I see Irish Americans trending toward conservatism. Do they not see themselves on reservations? Do they not see themselves in the Palestinians? Can they not tell the right side from the wrong side of history?
There is this passing line in the TV series Yellowstone that "we are all descendants of the subjugated."
Some people recognize that fact and give themselves an excuse to become exploiters as if they are owed a turn at the wheel. Others hear that and recognize a calling to pursue social justice.
Things are changing. There is something in the air and the popular culture is pointing in a new direction.
Situations are not all the same, and the right side of history may sometimes differ from that which you want to believe.
The winning vs. the losing side of history is easy to see.
Justice vs. injustice?
This is a conversation worth having for the rest of our lives.
Jews tell us the world is broken and it is our task to repair it.
Johan Galtung has given us a framework to examine the world in terms of structural violence.
And then there were the Utilitarian economists examining the diminishing returns of yet another dollar in a billionaire's hands.
Me?
I see a cause worth fighting for.
Her speech that night was the beginning of change in Hollywood. Change is slow and painful, but necessary.
I remember seeing that speech and wondered why Brando chose a Native American woman to give his refusal speech for him. It just seemed odd to me.
The reason he turned it down was to protest the discrimination of NA's in the film industry and government policy.
For years Brando was an advocate for NA's actually arrested in PNW and jailed when supporting Billy Frank Jr. in the ''Fish Wars'' of the PNW.
Brando is considered one of us and a leader in the civil rights movement for NA's. A landing in the PNW is named after him.
Here is a link to a great story on it.
Ahhh....thank you very much for the information on that, Kavika. I was not aware that his affiliation with NA's was on such a large scale. And that does explain his choice of Sacheen Littlefeather to give his award refusal.
I was not a big fan of Brando so I didn't follow him that much. I only saw one of his movies, "Sayonara".
A lifelong supporter of NAs and civil rights. IMO, one of the great actors of our time.
That's what I understand. I know he did a great job of acting in "Sayonara". I knew he was a staunch supporter of civil rights. And I am glad to learn that he is and has been a strong supporter of NA's as well.
One thought I recently had about this is that Hollywood has produced an awful lot of anti-indigenous propaganda.
There was a very simple worldview being taught: that Native Americans were brutal savages and had no respect for property rights or the rule of law. They were liars and thieves and murderers and the exact opposite of being victims of settler colonialism.
At the time Marlon Brando "pulled off this stunt" he earned himself a reputation for being a volatile sociopath who was extremely difficult to work with. Now I see him as way ahead of his time in making that sort of statement.
almost 50 years ago, but I still remember watching it on TV that night.
At this point all I can say is that it's a good thing I'm very lenient when it comes to off topic comments on my articles/seeds. I like to give everyone the opportunity to "speak their mind" as long as they're not being nasty.
you gave me lots of off topic tickets back in the day... ha ha ha
That was funny, thanks for sharing.
I did? Well, I guess one gets more accepting as they grow older.
meh, I deserved them...
LOL
Well, I guess better late than never.