The Academy Apologizes to Sacheen Littlefeather for Her Treatment at 1973 Oscars

Rebecca Sun at the Hollywood Reporter gets the scoop that the Academy will formerly apologize to Sacheen Littlefeather who was sent on stage to accept Marlon Brando’s Oscar.

Nearly half a century later, she will return to the Academy as an invited guest of honor for an evening of reflection at the Academy Museum, featuring something she never dared to imagine: a formal apology from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

“I was stunned. I never thought I’d live to see the day I would be hearing this, experiencing this,” Littlefeather (Apache/Yaqui/Ariz.), now 75, tells The Hollywood Reporter of receiving the Academy’s statement, which was first privately presented to her in June. “When I was at the podium in 1973, I stood there alone.”

The article continues:

“The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified,” then-Academy president David Rubin wrote in the organization’s apology letter, dated June 18. “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.”

The statement of apology will be read in full at the Sept. 17 Academy Museum event honoring Littlefeather, who will participate in a conversation with producer Bird Runningwater (Cheyenne/Mescalero Apache/N.M.), co-chair of the Academy’s Indigenous Alliance. It was Runningwater who first reached out to Littlefeather on behalf of the Academy, as part of the museum’s ongoing efforts to revisit the organization’s past and determine its future through a more expansive, inclusive lens. “Bird gave me a call — on the phone, of course. He tried to send smoke signals but they wouldn’t fit underneath the door,” jokes Littlefeather. Runningwater and fellow Academy Inclusion Advisory Committee member Heather Rae cultivated a relationship with the lifelong activist, paving the way for her to record an episode for the Academy Museum podcast, released in June, as well as a visual history for the Academy Oral History Projects, to be released next month.

Back in 1973 she says at the end of the speech, “And that we will, in the future, and our hearts and our understandings be met with love and generosity.”

Although there are boos, the applause drowns them out. Those of us old enough to remember this remember that there used to be a no-politics rule at the Oscars. That was partly because they saw themselves as entertainers, but also because half of them back then were Conservatives. Either way, her speech was thoughtful and open-hearted.

It’s great that they saw fit to make this right. They can’t really go back and change history, but the acknowledgment is probably appreciated.

Tickets may be purchased for the event at the Academy museum’s site.