Entertainment

American Indian Actors Quit Adam Sandler Movie Over Names

Published

11 years ago

April 24, 2015

In this Sept. 6, 2014 file photo, actor Adam Sander smiles during a news conference for “Men, Women, and Children” at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival in Toronto. (Hannah Yoon/The Canadian Press via AP, File)

RUSSELL CONTRERAS, Associated Press

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (AP) — A group of American Indian actors walked off the set of an Adam Sandler movie this week over complaints about stereotypes, offensive names and scenes they say disrespected Native American religious practices.

Actor Loren Anthony told The Associated Press on Thursday that he and eight others quit the production of the satirical Western “The Ridiculous Six” after producers ignored their concerns about its portrayal of Apache culture and the inappropriate use of props.

Anthony said the script included offensive names for Native American female characters and a scene where a Native American woman urinated while smoking a peace pipe. Another scene used chicken feathers on teepees, he said.

“Right from the get-go, it didn’t feel right. But we it let it go,” said Anthony, a Navajo actor who started work as an extra on the movie Monday. “Once we found out more about the script, we felt it was totally disrespectful to elders and Native women.”

“The Ridiculous Six” is produced by Sandler and Allen Covert and is slated for a Netflix-only release. Production began this month in Santa Fe and elsewhere in northern New Mexico.

The film is a comedy designed to lampoon stereotypes, Netflix said.

“The movie has ‘ridiculous’ in the title for a reason: because it is ridiculous,” a company statement released by Netflix said. “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.”

A spokesman for Sandler’s Manchester, New Hampshire-based production company, Happy Madison Productions, didn’t immediately return a phone message.

Goldie Tom, another extra who departed the set Wednesday, said producers told the group to leave if they felt offended and that script changes were not up for debate.

“This just shows that Hollywood has not changed at all,” Tom said.

She added the production had a number of non-Native American actors portraying American Indians, a long-standing complaint about the movie industry.

The actors said a Native American consultant hired by the production also walked off the set.

The New Mexico Film Office said Thursday the dispute was a First Amendment issue and the office had no say over the movie’s content.

“As long as the production meets the requirements in the film credit statute, there is nothing prohibiting them from filming in New Mexico and receiving the rebate,” the office said in a statement.

Outgoing Navajo Nation President Ben Shelly lauded the extras’ decision.

“Our Native American culture and tradition is no joking matter,” Shelly said. “I applaud these Navajo actors for their courage and conviction to walk off the set in protest.”

David Hill, 74, a Choctaw actor from Oklahoma who left the set, said he thought the film industry was heading toward better portrayal of American Indians before this experience.

“Over the years, we have seen change. Then this,” Hill said. “We told them, ‘Our dignity is not for sale.'”

___

Follow Russell Contreras at http://twitter.com/russcontreras

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Activism

Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of September 2 – 8, 2026

Published

5 days ago

September 7, 2026

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Black History

Jackie Wright Champions Bay Area Stories, Filmmakers and Cultural Institutions

As an award-winning communications professional, Wright has worked with corporations, nonprofits, government agencies, educational institutions, artists, and community organizations. In 2026, she expanded that work by launching an introductory public relations class for small businesses and nonprofits, offering practical tools for gaining visibility, shaping messages and building productive relationships with the media.

Published

2 weeks ago

August 30, 2026

Post News Group

Jackie Wright of Wright Enterprises. Photo courtesy of Wright Enterprises.

By Carla Thomas

Jackie Wright has spent more than two decades helping people, organizations and communities understand the power of a well-told story.

As founder and president of Wright Enterprises, a San Francisco-based strategic communications and public affairs firm, Wright has built a career spanning journalism, public relations, media relations, crisis communications, community engagement and multimedia storytelling.

Wright’s commitment to storytelling is also deeply personal. She wrote and co-directed the 15-minute documentary, “Love Separated in Life…Love Reunited in Honor,” which chronicles the story of her parents, Specialist Five (S5 Wyley Wright Jr. and Ouida Fay McClendon Wright. Her father, a U.S. Army helicopter crew chief, died in Vietnam in 1964 while serving as an honor guard during a visit by then-Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara. Decades later, Wright and her siblings had their father exhumed from a segregated cemetery in Jacksonville, Florida, and their mother moved from her burial place in Georgia so the couple could be reunited at Arlington National Cemetery in 2014.

The family journey later took Wright and her sister to Vietnam, where they discovered the former military compound that had been named in honor of their father and another fallen soldier. The documentary, centered on love, war, family, racial understanding, and remembrance, earned festival recognition at screenings.

“It was quite an honor to learn about my family’s history and share it on film,” said Wright.

That filmmaking experience complements Wright’s longstanding advocacy for independent cinema. She has served as a media partner and brand ambassador for Bay Area film festivals, including the San Francisco Black Film Festival, Oakland International Film Festival, and the Durban International Film Festival in South Africa.

“It’s important to help filmmakers and underrepresented stories reach broader audiences,” said Wright.

Whether promoting a neighborhood organization, championing an independent filmmaker or preserving her own family history, Wright has remained consistent. Through Wright Enterprises, she has turned communications into both a profession and a form of community service, telling stories that might otherwise go unheard.

“Our stories are an integral part of our history, and our history is not only American history, but worldwide,” she said.