Why the Oscars is apologising to a Native American activist

The organisers of the Oscars have formally apologised to a Native American activist who was heckled and threatened at the awards show almost half a century ago.

During what Rolling Stone described as the “now-historic night” in 1973, Sacheen Littlefeather appeared on stage at the ceremony on behalf of Marlon Brando, to refuse his Best Actor gong for The Godfather. At his request, she instead used the time “to draw attention to the stereotyping of Native Americans in film and TV”, said the magazine.

Her brief speech was “the first political statement at the televised ceremony – beginning a trend which continues to this day”, said the BBC. But Littlefeather, then 26, was booed by the Oscars audience, “shunned by the entertainment industry”, and later threatened with arrest and physical assault.

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In an interview last year with The Guardian, she said that Hollywood legend John Wayne tried to “forcibly take me off the stage, and he had to be restrained by six security men to prevent him from doing so”. And backstage, “there were people making stereotypical Native American war cries at her and miming chopping with a tomahawk”, according to the paper.

In a further insult, “Littlefeather's status as a Native American was called into question as well, as vicious rumours circulated about her identity for years”, said CBS News.

But decades later, the Academy has finally issued a statement of apology that will be read out at an event honouring Littlefeather, now 75, at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in LA in September. The “abuse you endured” was “unwarranted and unjustified”, said the statement, and the “emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable”.

Littlefeather told The Hollywood Reporter that “I never thought I’d live to see the day I would be hearing this, experiencing this”.

She added: “We Indians are very patient people – it's only been 50 years!”