Native American Actors Leave Set of Adam Sandler’s ‘Satire’

By Qimmah Saafir Apr 24, 2015

Adam Sandler’s upcoming satirical Western based on the 1960 Steve McQueen film “The Magnificent Seven” already appears to be off-putting. 

According to Indian Country Today Media Network, approximately a dozen actors who are primarily from the Navajo Nation left the set of this week’s filming for Sandler’s first Netflix film, "The Ridiculous Six," due to offensive lines in the script. 

Loren Anthony and Allison Young, two of the actors who walked off the set stated that the script — written by Sandler and his writing partner Tim Herlihy — “grossly misrepresented” and was “severely negligent” of the Apache culture. 

Allison Young expressed her disgust.

When I began doing this film, I had an uneasy feeling inside of me and I felt so conflicted. I talked to a former instructor at Dartmouth and he told me to take this as finally experiencing stereotyping first hand. We talked to the producers about our concerns. They just told us, ‘If you guys are so sensitive, you should leave.’ I was just standing there and got emotional and teary-eyed. I didn’t want to cry but the feeling just came over me. This is supposed to be a comedy that makes you laugh. A film like this should not make someone feel this way. Nothing has changed. We are still just Hollywood Indians.

After expressing their concerns about things like character names (i.e. “Beaver’s Breath” and “No Bra”), the actors were reportedly comforted by the filmmakers who said they would be consulting a Native American cultural adviser. The adviser was among the group that exited the production.

A spokesperson for Netflix recently told Vulture, "The movie has ridiculous in the title for a reason: because it is ridiculous. It is a broad satire of Western movies and the stereotypes they popularized, featuring a diverse cast that is not only part of — but in on — the joke."

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