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Legendary Hollywood star John Wayne is being slammed by Sacheen Littlefeather, the Native American actress and activist who accepted Marlon Brando’s Best Actor Academy Award back in 1973 for his work in The Godfather.

Wayne Blasted By Littlefeather

People Magazine reported that Littlefeather has claimed Wayne tried to rush the stage and pull her off as she tried to accept Brando’s Oscar, alleging that it took six men to restrain him in order to prevent the actor from “assaulting” the activist.

“I remember the faces in the crowd,” Littlefeather recalled thirty years after the alleged incident. “John Wayne, backstage, had to be restrained by six men from coming to get me and pull me off the stage.”

Littlefeather doubled down on these claims in a new interview with Variety.

“I heard a disturbance from behind me as I was speaking up at the podium,” she said. “I found out that [Wayne] had been restrained by six security men from assaulting me while I was on that stage.”

‘Most Violent Moment’ In Oscars History

Littlefeather went so far as to call this “the most violent moment that had ever taken place at the Academy Awards,” admitting that she was told what had went on by a security guard backstage, “but it was never publicized.”

One can’t help but think that it’s awfully convenient that the Native American activist has no proof of Wayne ever doing this, despite the fact that the Oscars were televised and there were hundreds of other witnesses there, but I digress.

“He was never admonished by the Academy. It was never published in the press,” she decried. “But the most violent moments took place then and there at the Academy Awards by John Wayne.”

Related: The Time John Wayne Almost Punched Robert Duvall (For Real)

Littlefeather Allegedly ‘Boycotted By The FBI’

Claiming to have been “boycotted by the FBI” after the ceremony, Littlefeather explained that the law enforcement agency “went around Hollywood and told people not to hire me. If they did, they would shut their film production down.”

“In addition, other people were let on talk shows like Johnny Carson, Merv Griffin, and other popular talk shows,” she said. “They could go on there and talk about me, but I was never allowed to go on them and represent myself.”

In 2013, four decades after Littlefeather’s incident at the Oscars, Entertainment Weekly reported that Wayne, who died in 1979, had been open about his disdain for Brando and the Native American activist’s stunt.

“If [Brando] had something to say, he should have appeared that night and stated his views instead of taking some little unknown girl and dressing her up in an Indian outfit,” Wayne said.

Related: John Wayne’s Daughters Hit Back When Cancel Culture Renews Push To Destroy His Legacy

Academy Apologizes To Littlefeather

This comes after the Academy sent Littlefeather an apology letter back in June for the way she was treated at this ceremony.

“The abuse you endured because of this statement was unwarranted and unjustified,” then-Academy president David Rubin wrote. “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.”

On Saturday the 17th of September, Littlefeather is set to be honored at the Academy Museum in Los Angeles, where the full apology letter will be read out.

It’s unfortunate that Wayne is being attacked over 40 years after his death when he can’t be here to defend himself. If he were alive today, he would undoubtedly have some choice words for Littlefeather, and for those who support her.

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