Sacheen Littlefeather, the activist who appeared on stage at the 1973 Academy Awards to decline Marlon Brando‘s Oscar for The Godfather, has sadly passed away.
The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences announced on Sunday night (October 2) that Sacheen has died at the age of 75, just days after she publicly accepted an apology from the organization.
While appearing at the Oscars in 1973, Sacheen was booed onstage, heckled with mock ululations and so-called ‘tomahawk chops’ offstage and threatened with arrest and physical assault along with facing other racist treatment.
Almost 50 years later, The Academy finally issued a letter of apology to Sacheen and she appeared at an in-person event on September 18 to formally accept the apology.
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