She-Hulk star Mark Ruffalo has called Marlon Brando’s thinking ‘revolutionary’ following the Academy Awards apology to Sacheen Littlefeather.
The Academy issued an apology to Littlefeather this week for her mistreatment at the Oscars in 1973 after she went on stage to refuse Brando’s award.
Sacheen Littlefeather’s Oscars Treatment
In 1973 Marlon Brando boycotted the Oscars due to the treatment of Native Americans in the film industry and instead sent Native American actress and activist Littlefeather to refuse his Best Actor award, won for his role in The Godfather, on his behalf. Some people applauded Littlefeather. Others booed.
During Littlefeather’s time on stage, John Wayne was reportedly waiting in the wings and tried to rush the stage to remove her. She told the Guardian: ‘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.’
Littlefeather’s treatment at the Oscars was one of the ceremony’s darkest moments – alongside Hattie McDaniel’s racist treatment at the twelfth Academy Awards.
It was confirmed on August 15 that the Academy had apologised to Littlefeather, she told The Hollywood Reporter: ‘I was stunned. I never thought I’d live to see the day I would be hearing this, experiencing this.’
She-Hulk’s Mark Ruffalo calls Brando ‘Revolutionary’
In a tweet, the Marvel actor has shared an interview the late actor gave explaining his reasons for refusing the award and why he asked Littlefeather to go in his place. Ruffalo called the Godfather actor ‘revolutionary in his thinking and understanding at the time’.
In the interview, he said: ‘I thought it was a marvellous opportunity for an ‘Indian’ (native American) to voice his opinion to 85 million people and I felt he had the right to in the view of what Hollywood has done to him.’
He went on to say he was embarrassed Littlefeather wasn’t able to say what she intended when she went onto the stage that night.
He said: ‘I was distressed that people should have booed and whistled and stomped, even though perhaps it was directed at myself. They should’ve at least had the courtesy to listen to her.’