What happened at the 1973 Oscars?

The 45th Academy Awards was held on Tuesday, March 27, 1973, at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles, California.

The ceremony was marked by Marlon Brando’s boycott of the Oscars and the dispatch of Sacheen Littlefeather to explain why he couldn’t appear to accept his Best Actor award for The Godfather.

Littlefeather refused to accept the award from British actor Roger Moore and introduced herself to Hollywood’s elite before declining the award on Brando’s behalf.

She stated that the refusal was in protest of the film industry’s treatment of Native Americans, as well as to draw attention to recent events in Wounded Knee, South Dakota

The majority of the reactions were vile. The venue was filled with booing, punctuated by cheers.

The outburst Sacheen Littlefeather faced during the award show is one of the darkest moments in its 93-year history

Littlefeather was the first person of colour to use the ceremony as a platform for their activism.

In June 2022, the Academy sent Littlefeather a formal statement of apology. The Academy Awards’ organisers acknowledged that the incident hurt Littlefeather’s personal and professional lives, causing her to be boycotted, and subjected to personal harassment and discrimination.