Marlon Brando

At the Academy Awards held fifty years ago, Marlon Brando was announced as the winner of the Best Supporting Actor race for his role as Don Corleone in The ...

That March 27, 1973, Oscar night, when she took the stage and refused the statuette being presented by actors Roger Moore and Liv Ullmann, Littlefeather said, “I'm representing Marlon Brando this evening and he has asked me to tell you in a very long speech, which I cannot share with you presently because of time but I will be glad to share with the press afterwards, that he very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award. Now, in an act of contrition over what she has endured since her moment on the Oscars stage, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has delivered to her a formal apology, and invited her to be guest of honor at an event at its museum, according to The Hollywood Reporter. His reasons, she read from his notes, were partly because of the “treatment of the Native Americans by the film industry…and on television in movie reruns.”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences apologized to the Native American activist and actor Sacheen Littlefeather, almost 50 years after was met ...

It’s our method of survival,” she said in a news release. In 1973, Littlefeather became the first person to make a political statement at the Oscars ceremony. “The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified.

The organizers behind the Academy Awards are apologizing to Sacheen Littlefeather nearly 50 years after she famously took to the stage on behalf of Marlon ...

“The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. Littlefeather’s statement at the Academy Awards was met with applause and jeers. In The Know

The Academy apologized to Sacheen Littlefeather for the "abuse" she endured as an Indigenous person onstage at the 1973 Oscars.

The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. We are dedicated to fostering a more inclusive, respectful industry that leverages a balance of art and activism to be a driving force for progress. You are forever respectfully engrained in our history. The letter continues, “The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. Per Littlefeather, Western genre star John Wayne had to be physically restrained from storming the stage, presumably to assault her. It’s our method of survival,” Littlefeather said in the Academy announcement. “Regarding the Academy’s apology to me, we Indians are very patient people—it’s only been 50 years! The emotional burden you have lived through and the cost to your own career in our industry are irreparable. “[Brando] very regretfully cannot accept this very generous award,” Littlefeather said onstage in 1973. “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. For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged.

Sacheen Littlefeather received an apology letter from the Academy for her Oscars treatment in 1973 after Marlon Brando's win.

We are dedicated to fostering a more inclusive, respectful industry that leverages a balance of art and activism to be a driving force for progress. The famous 60-second speech is featured in the Academy museum’s Academy Awards History gallery, echoing in the room with other historic moments such as Halle Berry becoming the first Black best actress winner and “Parasite” winning best picture. She was lambasted with an avalanche of boos from the audience, racist gestures such as “tomahawk chops” and threatened with violence offstage.

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has apologized to Native American actor Sacheen Littlefeather, almost 50 years after her appearance at the ...

The first Native American Indian woman, the first woman of color to ever make a statement at the Academy Awards, telling the truth about the way that it really is. "The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified. "For too long the courage you showed has been unacknowledged. In the documentary Sacheen: Breaking the Silence,she said she had been blacklisted by Hollywood as a result of her speech. That I had done something, that I was the first to make a statement, a political statement. She gave a passionate speech on his behalf but was met by a largely negative response from the audience.

Marlon Brando won the Best Actor Oscar for his performance in 'The Godfather', but some want to know why he refused to accept the award.

Littlefeather will appear in person at the Academy next month to receive an apology. "I beg at this time that I have not intruded upon this evening, and that we will, in the future, our hearts and our understandings will meet with love and generosity." Littlefeather was working as an actress and activist at the time, and she took to the stage to explain Brando's absence.