Almost fifty years ago, Sacheen Littlefeather turned down an Oscar at the Academy Awards in protest at the treatment of Native Americans. There is now an apology for what happened to her afterwards.
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Susan Vahabzadeh
How exactly Sacheen Littlefeather actually ended up with Marlon Brando, no one knows for sure. Director Francis Ford Coppola likely introduced the Apache human rights activist and the quirky actor around the time Brando played Don Corleone in The Godfather. In any case, when Brando, as expected, received the Oscar for best actor on March 27, 1973, he had sent Sacheen Littlefeather to the ceremony – to reject the award on his behalf, in protest at cinema’s treatment of Native Americans. There was little applause and lots of boos, after which she read Brando’s eight-page statement to the press. The Oscar Academy has now apologized to her for how she was treated that night almost 50 years ago – and wants to celebrate her in September at a gala intended to honor Native Americans in the cinema.