It seems like just yesterday Will Smith was slapping the ever-living hell out of Chris Rock on stage at the Oscars after the comedian made a pretty innocent joke about Jada Pinkett Smith.
There’s no doubt that the incident was the wildest Oscars moment in recent memory, however, that may not be the craziest moment.
And in the wake of her passing at 75 years old this past October, I’m reminded of another wild Oscars moments that involved Native American Sacheen Littlefeather, John Wayne, Marlon Brando and even Clint Eastwood.
Heavy hitters…
Let’s spin it back to the 1973 Oscars, when Marlon Brando won his second Academy Award that year for his role in The Godfather.
He never accepted the award himself, but rather, he sent Apache President of the National Native American Affirmative Image Committee, Sacheen Littlefeather, up on stage to accept the award on his behalf, so she could speak about the poor treatment of Native Americans, according to The London Economic.
When she got to the mic, she spoke about the poor treatment and depiction of Native Americans in the film industry, which you can tell in the video was not taken too fondly by the crowd.
Clint Eastwood, who was hosting the Oscars that year, came on stage afterwards and had some sly remarks towards Littlefeather, saying:
“I don’t know if I should present this award on behalf of all the cowboys shot on all the John Ford westerns in the theaters.”
However, that wasn’t the wildest part of the night.
According to Littlefeather, and it is still very much disputed, John Wayne was having to be physically restrained by six security guards from running on stage and confronting her:
“During my presentation, he was coming towards me to forcibly take me off the stage, and he had to be restrained by six security men to prevent him from doing so.”
Sacheen Littlefeather Passes Away At 75
According to CNN, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced her death (October ’22) in a Twitter post saying:
“Sacheen Littlefeather, Native American civil rights activist who famously declined Marlon Brando’s 1973 Best Actor Academy Award, dies at 75.”
Although her cause of death was not shared, Littlefeather shared in a Facebook post last year that she had been diagnosed with metastatisized breast cancer.
Last month, the Academy hosted an event at its film museum in Los Angeles, and featured Littlefeather as a speaker, alongside a number of other Native American performers.
Back in August, the Academy released an apology to Littlefeather for how she was treated back in 1973, as former Academy President David Rubin called the abuse she received “unwarranted and unjustified.”
He added:
“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.”
Littlefeather accepted the apology, calling it a “dream come true:”
“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”
This Old Coors Light Commercial With John Wayne & R. Lee Ermey Is A Thing Of Beauty
Colorado (our home base) is a magical place, and a Coors Banquet hits the spot like few other beers out there. You can take your fancy sh-t and shove it.
While this commercial is for Coors Light, not Banquet, it’s still a gem from 1992 featuring a couple old school movie stars: John Wayne and R. Lee Ermey.
Wayne died in 1979, but for the commercial they took old footage and repurposed it to fit the scene with beloved actor and Veteran Ermey who died in 2018.
Nothing comes close to touching these old school beer commercials. Nothing.
