Is Ridiculous 6 a hit?

Adam Sandler’s ‘Ridiculous 6′ insulted some Native Americans. Now it’s Netflix’s ‘No. 1′ movie.

By Justin Wm. MoyerIts questionable politics and terrible reviews aside, “The Ridiculous 6″ is a certified Netflix hit. So said Netflix chief content officer Ted Sarandos on Wednesday during a keynote at the 2016 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.

“It’s also enjoyed a spot at No. 1 in every territory we operate in, and in many of them it’s still No. 1,” Sarandos said, as Variety reported. The publication reported the movie had “been seen more times in 30 days than any other movie in Netflix history.” This wasn’t the same as saying “The Ridiculous 6″ was Netflix’s most watched movie ever, but many did think so—including the film’s co-star, Rob Schneider.Variety clarified the Netflix claim:Some outlets erroneously reported on Wednesday that “Ridiculous Six” was the most-watched Netflix title in history. A source later clarified: it’s the most streams ever in 30 days of release.Some Natives discussed this news on Facebook:I'm trying to figure out how this happened when it got horrible reviews and soon after disappeared altogether from the streaming for awhile. My first thought is morbid curiosity... people want to see how bad it is for themselves... I'm thinking not very many watched the entire movie. If it is as bad as the reviews claim the viewers switched to something else not far into it.

You're probably right, there. But how tin-eared can Netflix be trumpeting this? They are just encouraging other media companies to pursue race-baiting fare.

They are trying to beat back at bad press... salvage what they can for investors in future films... They have some other really good series. No idea why they would feel the need to lower themselves to crap like this.My thoughts

A lot of the "acclaim" is based on what they're really claiming. Namely,the most streams ever in 30 days of release.For starters, that excludes all theatrical and DVD releases. Which is like 99% of all movies. It's a "hit" compared to other movies where streaming was the second or third avenue of availability. Or original movies released only via streaming.

How long has Netflix touted its streaming service: two years? What major new movies has it released in that period? As I recall, the service was light on major releases. No Marvel movies, Hobbit movies, Pixar movies, Oscar-winning movies, etc. Not until months after they were available elsewhere, at least.

The claim also excludes any movie that started off "slowly" but continued to draw views after 30 days. Imagine a movie--say, Interstellar--that's gotten 9,999 views for every month of the two years it's been out. Now imagine Ridiculous 6 getting 10,000 views the first month, because of its notoriety, and zero views thereafter. Netflix could still make the claim it made.

All this assumes Netflix isn't fibbing about its stats. For instance, the company could be referring to movies only it released, not studio movies. It could be referring to customers who began streaming Ridiculous 6, not those who finished it.

In any case...against limited competition, Ridiculous 6 got enough (bad) publicity to do slightly better than the runner-up for a brief period. That's about all we can gauge from Netflix's claim.

For more on Adam Sandler, see Netflix Buries Ridiculous 6 and So-Called Humor in Ridiculous 6.

Netflix buries Ridiculous 6

Netflix's The Ridiculous 6 branded ‘unwatchable’ by critics and viewers

Proof Netflix Originals aren't always a safe bet

By Christopher HootonAt the time of writing, The Ridiculous 6 has disappeared from mine and several others' Netflix homepage carousel, and can’t even be found among many ‘Trending Now’, 'Popular on Netflix' or ‘Recently Added’ sections.

Granted, these are all algorithm-based, but when pushing a new show Netflix will often try to promote its original content even if it doesn't 100% fall in line with what you've watched before, and you'd think 'Recently Added' would work fairly independently from taste.

The film still ostensibly has an average 4-star rating among viewers, but a glance at the multitude of 1-star user reviews paints a different picture.

'Seems like they forgot to put the jokes in this one,' one reads. 'And the acting. And plot. Anything, really.'Are Netflix trying to bury failed Adam Sandler comedy, The Ridiculous 6?

By Olivia WaringNetflix have removed the Western from their main carousel in exchange for Bradley Cooper rom-com Aloha, which definitely means the situation must be very bad indeed.

Netflix is trying to bury The Ridiculous Six hoping no one notices

Despite being out for a mere three days, it now can’t be found for many on the ‘Popular on Netflix’ or ‘Recently Added’ sections of Netflix–only remaining in ‘Comedy’ and ‘Trending Now.’

Embarrassing. Don’t blame it on the algorithm, guys.Comment:  For more on Adam Sandler, see So-Called Humor in Ridiculous 6 and Video Response to Ridiculous 6.

So-called humor in Ridiculous 6

As with almost every instance of racist entertainment, some suggested that critics should "lighten up" because The Ridiculous Six is "just humor." Here's what's wrong with that attitude:

Adam Sandler may never be funny again: Another unending parade of half-baked, offensive stereotypes disguised as comedy

A donkey-romancing Mexican is just a taste of the stupidity in the comedian's controversial new western spoof

By Matthew RozsaWhile reviewing the comedy “Jack and Jill,” critic Jay Bauman came up with a list of stale tropes that predictably appear in all of Adam Sandler’s movies. Nestled between entries like “general whorish product placement” and “scenes of forced sentimentality to trick the audience into thinking the movie has a heart,” there was one that applied perfectly to the inherently problematic nature of his comedy–namely, “jokes at the expense of physical abnormality or ethnicity,” or as Bauman puts it, “jokes at the expense of people who are different.”

In other words, Sandler movies contain lots of jokes that punch down.

Even before it premiered on Netflix today, “The Ridiculous Six” managed to incur controversy for punching down against Native Americans, who feature prominently in the film’s story. As I discussed last April, several Native American actors walked off the movie’s set to protest what they considered insensitive jokes about Apaches (more on those in a moment). Later a cellphone video leaked in which producer Barry Bernardi told the actors they “shouldn’t be in the movie” if they’re “overly sensitive” about those types of jokes. Shortly after that, another Native American actor from the picture spoke out in Sandler’s defense, observing that there were 150 other Native American extras who happily participated in the production and claiming the leaked video omitted Bernardi’s promise to include a disclaimer noting that the movie is historically inaccurate. He even noted that during a private meeting “the last thing that [Sandler] said before he got up was that the thing that made him feel the worst is that four people got their feelings hurt.”

Watching “The Ridiculous Six,” it’s easy to see how the filmmakers–including director Frank Coraci and co-writers Tim Herlihy and Sandler himself–could believe their movie was harmless. The Apache characters are depicted in unambiguously sympathetic terms, and while there are plenty of racial jokes, the movie seems determined to be an equal opportunity offender, even by occasionally putting white people in its cross hairs. Indeed, numerous white characters are depicted as vicious bigots (and as such worthy of being robbed or in other ways receiving karmic punishment), and one early joke shows an American Indian doing his white people impression by shouting, “Hey, guys, let’s play with our chest hair and eat potato chips.”

Nevertheless, when it comes to its underlying racial message, “The Ridiculous Six” still grates, and there are obvious moments when it appears to be punching down almost without realizing it. To understand why, it is necessary to briefly analyze the kinds of jokes that appear in the movie. Warning: Spoilers ahead.

The difference between telling a decent joke about historically marginalized groups and simply punching down is simple: While both expect the audience to laugh at sensitive subjects, the latter hold no meaningful social insight and go no further than laughing at someone else’s expense for being different.The Ridiculous 6 Movie Review

By Brian Tallerico[T]hen there’s the broad racism and misogyny of the piece. After the controversial walk-offs, Netflix claimed that this was “satire.” It’s not. There’s nothing satirical about Sandler’s bad Native American accent (which totally comes and goes, by the way) or Schneider’s Hispanic caricature. Saying that this is satire is like the drunk guy at the bar telling you how many black friends he has after telling a racist joke. Don’t fall for it.Comment:  As this image suggests:



you don't need a joke to convey a stereotype. Regardless of her name, Julia Jones's character is the epitome of a "Pocahottie" or Indian princess. Adam Sandler's character is the epitome of the stoic and supernatural Indian. Their buckskin clothing is wrong; most Indians switched to Western clothing during the 19th century.

These things aren't jokes. They're false or misleading stereotypes. Beyond the alleged humor, they convey an erroneous picture of Native people. They're wrong for that reason, not because it's offensive to make fun of minorities.

For more on Adam Sandler, see Video Response to Ridiculous 6 and Scathing Reviews for Ridiculous 6.

Adam Sandler's wife in redface

On Facebook, Jacqueline Keeler wrote:Here's a recent photo of Adam Sandler and his wife who played "Wears No Bra." She is Italian American but they obviously painted her brown for the role. She was in #Redface to play a role originally titled "Sits on Face." I heard the entire scene was filmed--where she had to squat and pee while smoking the pipe by a tipi. They only showed the first part in the final cut.

Comment:  For more on Adam Sandler, see Video Response to Ridiculous 6 and Scathing Reviews for Ridiculous 6.

Video response to Ridiculous 6

Native Americans Dispel Stereotypes in Response to Adam Sandler Movie

The actors who protested Sandler’s ‘The Ridiculous 6’ speak out in a new video.

By Jennifer SwannThe actors who walked off the set of an Adam Sandler movie in April to protest its portrayal of Apache culture are back on screen together for a new project, but this time, they’re telling their stories. In a nearly three-minute video shot in New Mexico and released this week, four Native American actors who ditched Sandler’s production speak about their pride in their heritage, the importance of positive representation, and why they want to set a good example for the next generation.

Comment:  For more on Adam Sandler, see Scathing Reviews for Ridiculous Six and Adam Sandler Defends Ridiculous 6.

Scathing reviews for Ridiculous 6

The early reviews of Adam Sandler's The Ridiculous Six weren't good:

Review: 'The Ridiculous 6' Starring Adam Sandler, Rob Schneider, Taylor Lautner, Nick Nolte, Will Forte, Vanilla Ice, More

By Nick SchagerHumor is murdered over the course of 119 deathly minutes by Adam Sandler in “The Ridiculous 6,” a Western spoof that, like its protagonist’s feats of magical heroism, is best described as “some mystical shit.” Mired in pre-release controversy over its supposedly offensive characterizations of Native Americans—which drove some extras to abandon the project—Sandler’s first of four exclusive features for Netflix turns out to be distasteful in every regard, an abysmal riff on “The Magnificent Seven” in which hoary stereotypes and oater clichés are exploited for equally groan-worthy gags. Without an amusing instinct in its cowboy-hatted head, this painfully protracted, puerile effort meanders about the Old West as if it were making up its nonsense on the fly. The result is a torturous genre joke that marks a new low not only for the star, but for the art of cinematic comedy.

Boasting a stoic countenance and monotone voice that vacillates between Native American broken-English and cowpoke-y American twanginess, Sandler is Tommy, aka White Knife, a white man raised by the Apache, who taught him how to both handle a blade and fight with superhuman speed.More on Sandler's stereotyping:Native American women possess names such as “Wears No Bra,” “Smoking Fox,” and “Beaver Breath;” Ramon talks about the deliciousness of tacos; and white people are ridiculed for being bad dancers—Sandler and co-writer Tim Herlihy’s script performs cultural mockery with all the incisive skill of a blind surgeon wielding a hammer. Not helping matters is a cavalcade of Sandler pals appearing in dim, one-note cameos. Will Forte is the leader of a gang of eye-patched bandits who utters things like “Kemo-slobby” and “Poca-hot-tits.”'The Ridiculous 6' Review: Should You Watch Adam Sandler's New Netflix Movie?

By Alex GarofaloFor "Aloha," "Entourage," "Mortdecai," and others, the arrival of Adam Sandler's "The Ridiculous 6" on Netflix Friday must seem like a Christmas miracle. Those films are off the hook. "The Ridiculous 6" is the worst movie of the year.And:Everything that has been written about the movie's clumsy treatment of Native Americans is pretty much true. That several Native American actors and a cultural adviser walked off the set of the movie in protest is well documented and it is not easy to see why they were offended. The reliance on stereotypes and the blunt novelty of Sandler playing a borderline mystical Native American warrior wear thin quickly and feel awfully dated for 2015.

Stereotypes galore

The reviews that followed weren't good either. Most of them mentioned the racist stereotyping:

The Ridiculous Six': How the West was wan with Adam Sandler

By Richard RoeperYeah, one can see that, given Sandler is playing a white man named White Knife, a.k.a Tommy, who speaks like a 1940s-movie version of the American Indian because he grew up with a tribe of Native Americans, including Screaming Eagle (Saginaw Grant), who is like a father to Tommy.

One of the women in the tribe is named Never Wears a Bra, because—well, you get it. In the world of “The Ridiculous Six,” Native Americans whoop it up and dance at night, and don’t seem to do much of anything in the day other than wait around for White Knife/Tommy to bring them supplies.

Tommy has mystical powers, including the ability to move at the speed of light, turn himself into a tumbleweed and literally castrate a buzzing fly with a knife. Sure. Why not.Adam Sandler Keeps On Offending Everyone In The Ridiculous 6

By Courtney E. SmithWe meet Sandler's wife, the dutiful Smoking Fox (Julia Jones), a Native American woman with a name that manages to be both racist and sexist. That's the theme for all the Native American women we meet, who get one-note lines of introduction. They include Screaming Eagle, Never Wears Bra (a woman in the tribe who desperately wants to do it with Sandler for no apparent reason), and Beaver Breath (a woman whom a rival gang finds unattractive). The objections of the Native American community to this movie were well documented while it was still in production.Adam Sandler’s ‘Ridiculous Six’––so, how racist is it?

By Larry CarrollIs the film racist, is it harmless—or is it just business-as-usual Happy Madison?

Below is every instance of racism in “The Ridiculous Six”—read on, and then you make the call.

Year's worst movie?

Adam Sandler's 'The Ridiculous 6' Is Getting Some of the Year's Most Hilariously Scathing Reviews

Don't watch Sandler's two-hour Netflix slog, but enjoy reviews funnier than anything in it.

Comment:  For more on Adam Sandler, see Adam Sandler Defends Ridiculous 6 and Adam Sandler's History of Racism.

Adam Sandler defends Ridiculous 6

Adam Sandler: ‘Ridiculous Six’ Racism Controversy Was ‘Just a Misunderstanding’

By Alex StedmanAdam Sandler is finally addressing the controversy that surrounded his Netflix project “The Ridiculous Six” after about a dozen Native Americans walked off the set of the movie in April.

The actors complained of racist jokes against Native Americans, but, finally speaking on the issue at the premiere of his upcoming movie “Pixels,” Sandler said he wasn’t trying to offend anyone.

“It was just a misunderstanding and once the movie is out will be cleared up,” Sandler told the Associated Press.

The comedian also called “Ridiculous Six” a “pro-Indian” movie.

“I talked to some of the actors on the set who were there and let them know that the intention of the movie is 100% to just make a funny movie,” he told ScreenCrush. “It’s really about American Indians being good to my character and about their family and just being good people. There’s no mocking of American Indians at all in the movie. It’s a pro-Indian movie. So hopefully when people see it—whoever was offended on set and walked out, I hope they realize that, and that’s it. It was kinda taken out of context.”A partial rebuttal of Sandler's claims:

Adam Sandler’s insulting “Ridiculous 6″ defense: Being “pro-Indian” looks nothing like this

"It's really about American Indians being good to my character" doesn't exactly redeem this ill-advised project

By Paula Young LeeCould Sandler’s P.R. problem get any worse? Of course it could. Yesterday, Sandler dug himself into a hole by affirming that “The Ridiculous 6” was a “pro-Indian” film. He explained: “It’s really about American Indians being good to my character and about their family and just being good people.”

Alas, poor unhappy Gilmore, we hardly knew ye understood so little about the medium that made you so very rich. To explain, let me begin by making three observations. First, “Me smoke peace pipe, Kemosabe”-style jokes don’t only reduce First Peoples to stereotypes, they also mindlessly reinforce every negative stereotype Hollywood has manufactured about them.

Second, the “White Savior” trope goes like this: Clueless white person stomps all over Noble Savages who fight against Regular Savages, and then receives Enlightenment for which he is eternally grateful (but will never share credits, profits or royalties), for he has already rewarded the Noble Savages with the greatest of all gifts: the opportunity to help him.

Third, when the White Savior film is “historical,” it can even be sanctified with an Oscar nomination for best picture—an Oscar that “Dances With Wolves,” 1990, actually won.My thoughts

There's no mocking, says Sandler...in the unlikely event he removed every joke reported in the press. I wouldn't bet a dime on that.

The Indians raise Sandler's character...which proves they're good? Not if the jokes mocking them are still in the movie. All sorts of characters can be good and kind yet still treated as idiots and savages. In fact, the idea of Indians as big-hearted but comical buffoons is an old tradition in movies.

Repeating jokes that might've appeared in old comedies isn't mocking them. You mock movie conventions by having Indians laugh at other people, not by having other people laughing at them.

I bet the debate will come down to this:"Adam Sandler feels that when audiences finally see his upcoming Netflix comedy, 'The Ridiculous Six,' they will realize he wasn't trying to offend anyone."No, you stupid ass. The issue isn't whether you were trying to offend someone. It's whether you did offend someone despite your ignorant and ill-considered intent.

Only a few movies in Hollywood history were trying to offend Indians. But the fact is that several thousand of them did offend Indians with their racist and stereotypical depictions. How do you not understand this distinction, Sandler?

More trashing of Sandler:

Why Adam Sandler should retire immediately

Why No One Likes Adam Sandler Anymore

For more on Adam Sandler, see Adam Sandler's History of Racism and Sandler's Racist Ridiculous 6 "Jokes."

Ecoffey and Davies downplay racism

A couple of Native journalists took activists like me to task for focusing on such "minor" issues as Adam Sandler's racist movie. Here's round 1:

Evaluating our priorities in the Native media

A note from the editor’s desk

By Brandon EcoffeyOver the past couple of weeks social media has been going absolutely nuts over an incident involving a group of Native actors walking off a Adam Sandler run movie set due to their objections to the famous actor’s grotesque depictions of Native people and culture. Although I applaud the courage of these Native actors to risk being black balled by Hollywood due to their protest, I do not understand why this particular story gained so much traction when there are real and far more pressing issues on reservations that the Native media has brushed aside.

Where is the outrage over our young people dying weekly? Where is the outrage over the absence of any type of functioning economy on reservations? Where is the outrage over the fact that many many children in Indian Country do not have access to safe drinking water? These are third-world issues that are pushed to the back page in favor of stories about people dressing up like Indians, or acting like us, or doing whatever it is that they do.

Many say that the misappropriation of our culture impacts the self-esteem and self-image of our Native youth. This may be true. But what impacts those aspects of our children even more is waking up to homes filled with mold, or abusive parents, or extreme poverty resulting from decades upon decades of failed federal policies and exploitation at the hands of predatory investors.

Although I agree that cultural appropriation is wrong I would just hope that others in the Native news industry reassess their priorities and react accordingly.My response:

"Where is the outrage over our young people dying weekly?" It's hidden by the invisibility of Natives in the mainstream media. This invisibility is shredded when an issue such as Sandler's racist movie gains traction.

Ripping apart this cloak of invisibility is a necessary precursor to generating outrage about endangered Native children. If no one knows they exist, there can be no outrage.

The MSM's choice isn't between covering the Sandler controversy and covering endangered Native children. It's between covering the Sandler controversy and doing nothing.

Only after that, when people become more aware of Indian country's ongoing problems, will the MSM turn its focus to them. Awareness comes first, and the Sandler controversy has helped raise that awareness.

Others chimed in:Rob Schmidt hit the nail on the head.

I'm sorry but many of us are outraged by all those issues as well. Many of us are fighting to better our communities also. I get so upset hearing Native people saying things like this because it makes the fight harder for ALL Native issues. We shouldn't be picking and choosing what issue to fight but we should be upset and fighting on all fronts!

You can do both. I work with Native health but still think mascots et al. are whack and should be eliminated.Right. Most of us are just reading and sharing articles. Even if you're deeply into these issues, they take up only 5% or so of your time. The rest of the time, you're working on whatever it is that you consider important.Hi. I just read the article and your question, so I'd like to share my perspective, at least in terms of mascots. A friend once said something similar. "We have more important issues to address," but it is my belief that this is one of the reasons that we have so many other issues to contend with. The dehumanizing effects of misrepresentation of our people via mascots and the various forms of appropriation have been effective enough to impact the way society views us. This in turn makes it so much easier for mainstream society to turn a blind eye to our multifaceted challenges. The cage of oppression consists of many wires, but in addressing the symptoms, we must also be diligent in addressing the root cause.
Round 2

Another column from the Native Sun News implied that movies, mascots, and related issues are a waste of time:

Indian Country must face the man in the mirror

Stop being thin-skinned busybodies

By James Giago DaviesInstead of focusing on every perceived slight, why not pour all that energy into the actual nuts and bolts reality plaguing almost every reservation—violence, poverty, alcoholism, drug abuse. Face these ugly truths, fight these ugly realities, honor the actual heroes, point fingers at the actual villains, and then if you have any energy left, and you damn well shouldn’t have energy left, knock yourself out being all offended over Johnny Depp’s Tonto.

Acculturation has left Indian America with deep, debilitating wounds, and these wounds compel Indians to hurt other Indians, to create bogeymen to hate and attack so they don’t have to face the man in the mirror. There are plenty of actual evil people hating on Indians, we don’t have to fabricate fresh ones to deflect our righteous indignation from the disheartening task of fixing what’s actually broken.

Indian culture has been oppressed to the point Indians no longer need the Wasicu to beat them down. Indians have spent the last century becoming experts at beating themselves down. Time to man up and start living in the 21st Century. Time to develop the skills and knowledge to protect the culture from destructive outside forces like Rand Paul, who wants to abolish the BIA, and even more destructive internal forces, misguided spiritual leaders, corrupt tribal administrations, bad parents neglecting and terrorizing vulnerable children.

If we could just spend one year doing that, then we would have the social gravitas forcing others to listen, then when Bill Maher said another stupid thing about Indians...well, he never would again say such a stupid thing, because it would be common knowledge all you crazy Indians are as funny as all get-out.I posted comments to Davies's column, leading to this debate with him:

Isn't Tim Giago a big advocate of eliminating stereotypical mascots? Which is the same issue as eliminating stereotypical movie portrayals. Have you told him to stop wasting his time on "trivial" issues--to "man up and start living in the 21st Century"?

Go ahead and tell him, then let us know what he says. Maybe he can explain the importance of fighting racism and stereotyping against Indians. Because clearly he understands the issue.

Are you seriously arguing that most Indians are focusing on Johnny Depp and Adam Sandler rather than the serious problems facing Indian country? Because it's the other way around, obviously.

A century of addressing these problems has yet to fully solve them. That's partly because most people think Indians have vanished into history.

And that's because of media portrayals--or the lack thereof. No one cares about Indians because movies such as Depp's and Sandler's tell us they're primitive people of the past. As far as most Americans are concerned, Indians and their problems no longer exist.I don't think you actually know anything about Indians, or growing up on welfare and food stamps in an Indian ghetto. Check it out.I know what Tim Giago has said about Hollywood's racism and stereotyping:

Tim Giago: Few Roles for Indians in Hollywood

Giago: Hollywood slow to tear down racist barriers against

He's argubly the most famous journalist in Indian country, and he's spent decades on these issues. I'm guessing he knows more about growing up Indian than you do.

Didn't you just spend a few hours writing about a racist nurse's video in Rapid City? How many Natives did you rescue from welfare and food stamps with that column? Why are you wasting time writing about a video when Native children are suffering and dying?

Unless you're delivering food and medicine yourself, don't bother lecturing anyone else on the subject. Nobody who's a journalist is saving lives directly.

More criticism of Davies

I love the idea of writers lecturing other writers about the pressing needs facing Indian country. If you believe what you're saying, Davies, stop writing and start helping. Get away from your computer. Get out of journalism altogether.

Instead, become a social worker. Go door to door bringing food and medicine to suffering people. Because if you don't do that, you're a flaming hypocrite.

To state the obvious, your words aren't saving lives. Therefore, quit wasting your time lecturing us about our words.

Again, others chimed in:I'll be damned if my girls or nieces have to put up with gross 'jokes' on the playground from boys who learned that those are funny things to say to native women. In this particular article, Mr. Davies forgets the fact that he is not a native kid in school and those are the people that will have to put up with the reintroduction of these disgusting stereotypes. It's already hard being a kid with a Native last name, without Adam Sandler adding fuel to the 'OMG Indian names are soooo funny and weird' fire.

There are many ways to help, and many means, if everyone would just do a little or lot wherever they are planted. If everyone quits their job to bring food and medicine to the suffering, they are gonna run out of food and medicine pretty quick. But there is always someone to help, wherever you are--journalism, computer, reserve, city core, or grocery store. (And part of life is also using what gifts and tools you have to hand and have been given, in the best way you can…to help not hurt.)

As I said, you can do both. ... I work with ancestral foods as a health measure, since we have terrible diabetes rates (and everything else) and we didn't have these rates pre-commodities. I'm putting work into improving Native health and infrastructure, but that's not easy or quick. But while I'm helping rebuild, I'd like for people to not continue to get dehumanized and made into jokes by the likes of Adam Sandler.

That’s what cracks me up about people like this Davies fellow. He’s complaining about how we are not focusing on the “real” issues, yet I wonder if he is doing anything about those issues himself? He seems pretty content to sit on his ass and belittle other Natives on the computer.All the academics, the museum personnel, the people working on cultural and language preservation, the artists and storytellers...none of you are saving lives directly. All of you must be wasting time, according to Ecoffey and Davies. Reevaluate your priorities!

Not to mention the 70% of Indians who live away from the reservation. Whatever you're doing, you're probably not protecting the endangered children of Pine Ridge. What's wrong with you? Don't you care?!

</sarcasm>I think we should be allowed to punch ANY idiot who pulls the 'more important issues' crap.Yes, the "more important things" argument is so stupid. It's mainly used to derail whatever issue is being discussed.

If you can't address the issue, spend an hour telling us what we should be doing instead. What you'd be doing if you weren't lecturing us about what we're doing.Y'know, I would love to hear Suzan Harjo's response to these "more important issues" Native guys who literally act like this is a brand new issue. Or Clyde Bellecourt or Kevin Gover's response. I mean, it's been tackled by every major NA organization since the 1960s. It's like this has caught them by surprise. Where have they been for 50 years? Or how can they dismiss the persistent and constant efforts of our leaders?Good point. Tribal leaders have protested movie portrayals for a century. AIM and the NCAI have protested mascots for half a century. Marlon Brando and Sacheen Littlefeather, Pocahontas, the Time magazine "expose" of casinos, Little House on the Prairie, the Outkast video, etc., etc.

In fact, I could list hundreds of controversies and protests without even touching the last ten years. Including those of Tim Giago, uncle of James Giago Davies, who's denounced boarding schools, mascots, and other examples of racism for decades. You could say Giago's whole career has been "talking" about problems rather than solving them hands-on.

It's just so laughable when someone says, "Why are you focusing on this 'trivial' Adam Sandler issue? None of our people ever cared about racism or discrimination against us. We were too busy saving lives.

"Now you've hijacked the news and nobody's talking about anything but Sandler. All the resources devoted to dying children are going to him instead. The media and the government would be swarming over Pine Ridge, but you've told them 'real life' doesn't matter. So a century of neglect is your fault."

As I said, this is stupid and ignorant. Funny to hear Indians dismiss or downplay racism as a serious issue confronting their people. Funny, but wrong.

For more rationalizations of racism, see Black Columnist Excuses "Redskins," Genocide and Shawnee Professor Justifies Tonto's Stereotypes.

Native filmmakers criticize Netflix boycott

More on Netflix's deal with Adam Sandler the racist:

Netflix giving Adam Sandler creative control is totally backfiring

By Yohana DestaWhen Netflix originally signed the Sandler deal, many film fans were left scratching their heads. But from a purely financial standpoint, it makes sense: In its original announcement, Netflix stated that Sandler films have grossed more than $3 billion globally. And in a rare moment of candor about its viewers' habits, Netflix disclosed that Sandler films are among its top streaming performers.

Sandler is arguably the most financially successful talent the streaming company has pulled into its originals fold, and will reap his piece whether the films perform or not—not that we'll ever know, since Netflix doesn't share viewership numbers—as the company will continue to foot the $40-$80 million budgets to which he's accustomed. And the fact that he co-wrote the Ridiculous Six script makes it clear that he doesn't mind being labeled a bigot.

This is where a traditional Hollywood studio—like Sony, where Sandler still has made most of his pictures and still has a deal—would normally step in. But Netflix isn't a traditional Hollywood studio; they've navigated original TV content, but don't have experience wrangling a movie player of Sandler's power and lightning-rod nature.

The minute Sandler got complete control of a project, it became clear that he needs someone to save him from himself. Without a suite of seasoned, strong-willed executives to have a hand on the reins, Netflix has allowed him to cross the line in a way he never did—or possibly even could—before.

Sandler is using his highly visible platform to degrade and objectify an entire subset of people who have historically been degraded and objectified—a blow to Netflix's creative, high-quality content streak. Maybe Sandler doesn't care about being labeled, but that's a label Netflix doesn't want.Fueled by Adam Sandler Fiasco, Navajo Woman Protests Script’s Stereotypes

Allie Young says movies like ‘The Ridiculous Six’ can have damaging effects on a community struggling with identity issues.

By Jennifer SwannIt remains to be seen whether the walk-off, a slew of bad press, and a petition backed by nearly 100,000 will have any impact on the release of The Ridiculous Six, which is being produced not by a traditional studio system but by Netflix, a streaming service that relies more on subscribers than on ratings.

The number of actors who stormed off the set was tiny compared with the number of Native Americans who continued working, opting for a paycheck rather than a protest. But Young says the attention to the issue is unprecedented, even if the industry is slow to change. The New York Times weighed in last week with a story about the Hollywood biases faced by Native American actors, including Tantoo Cardinal, a Canadian indigenous actor who appeared in Dances With Wolves.

“Never in history have you heard of a group of Native Americans taking a stand like this,” Young says. “So I’m proud of that. I’m happy to see that there are more actors who do have a voice, like [Native Canadian actor] Adam Beach, who are coming forward in support of the whole controversy.”Boycott a bad idea?

I haven't heard anything more about a boycott of Netflix beyond the initial proposal. As far as I can tell, no one's participating in it. But some people are still talking about it as if it's a thing.

Anti-Netflix Campaign Is 'Drowning Native Voices' Says Native Director

By Wilhelm MurgFilmmakers Brian Young and Sterlin Harjo have come out against the #WalkOffNetflix campaign because of the Native American films available on the service. Is that your main complaint?

Here’s the thing: nobody has seen Rhymes for Young Ghouls, right? You would have to have had your ear on the ground to have heard about it, and that’s true of a lot of Native directors' films. You have the ability to make films fairly cheaply, and you’re getting a market that is flooded with bullshit, frankly. Professional filmmakers have to battle for that position with amateurs and nobody’s interested in Native-told stories per se. Smoke Signals was 17 years ago, and everybody’s been waiting for that next watershed film that was going to break it all open for Native cinema and it just hasn’t happened yet. It’s because the avenues aren’t there in terms of distribution. At the end of the day Hollywood is about making money, so if you want to be a filmmaker you need to make money. They don’t qualify you by ethnicity, they just want to know if you are making good films, and that was our goal; we wanted to make a good film, but try to sneak in the content; providing a message wrapped up in an entertainment vehicle.

So if you’re rolling back about 100 years of representation in cinema, it’s not going to happen with 1 or 2 films. You’re going to have to get 40 or 50 films before you can start talking about Native Cinema as a genre. The problem with #WalkOffNetflix is that it is inadvertently suppressing those voices with good intentions, but the last I heard, the road to hell was paved with them.

So that was my main beef with it: you’re drowning our ethnic voices because of this idiot.Barnaby somehow thinks a small protest, rather than Netflix's bottom line, is going to dampen the market for Native films. Sterlin Harjo also criticizes the protest, but rightly places most of the blame on Netflix.

Ridiculous Netflix: Sterlin Harjo Discusses Netflix and Adam Sandler’s Ridiculous Six

By Lauren WissotFilmmaker: As someone not of Native American descent I was pretty appalled by Netflix’s lackluster, “broad satire” defense. I mean, if this was Adam Sandler “satirizing” blacks I’m sure Spike Lee, along with many other African-American filmmakers, would be calling for a boycott of the streaming site. But you’ve personally come out against the recent #WalkOffNetflix campaign that the controversy inspired. Can you explain your reasoning? And if canceling Netflix subscriptions isn’t the best response, what is?

Harjo: We were all appalled by the treatment of Native characters, as well as by Netflix’s response. The problem is deeper than Netflix. I’m sure that the executives in charge of Netflix’s original programming didn’t have Native people in their best interest when they green-lit this project. I knew months before that the film was coming down the pipe because the lead actor of my film Barking Water, Richard Ray Whitman, told me he turned it down. He said it was racist and sexist. He even brought it up to the casting director–but one actor in protest isn’t going to stop the millions of dollars behind a film like this. A few people canceling their Netflix subscription isn’t going to stop it. What is going to stop it is when all of our actors turn down roles like this, as Whitman did. It’s going to stop when more Native filmmakers are supported to create their own visions. Supporting Native filmmakers will help peel back the decades of misrepresentation of Native people. Netflix can’t stop it. Only we can. We have that power, but we need support.

Right now, in America, Native filmmakers are on the outskirts of the outskirts–it’s true independent cinema. Studios won’t touch us. Indians in buckskin and feathers is the only way studios want to see us because it fits their narrative. They don’t want to see the truth. We have to roll up our sleeves and keep creating truth. We have to keep creating films, and seeing our visions to the screen. One of the few screens where we can show our work is on Netflix. There are great Native and indigenous films on Netflix. Filmmakers like Taika Waititi, Sydney Freeland, Jeff Barnaby, Neil Diamond, and Heather Rae have blocked out a small section on Netflix. Our films have reached a lot of people, including non-Indians, because of Netflix. If Native people walk away from the site then we are losing some of our audience. It could have the opposite effect, of making Netflix decide not to acquire films like mine. We have to create our own content–and we need every place that is willing to show that content.Comment:  For more on Adam Sandler, see Natives to Hollywood: Stop Stereotyping and Ricky Lee Defends Ridiculous 6.

Natives to Hollywood: Stop stereotyping

People are still criticizing Adam Sandler for his racist Ridiculous 6 movie:

Adam Sandler, You Don’t Represent Me

By Amalia RubinOne would hope that you, Mr. Sandler, would realize how important it is as a Jew, especially as a Jew in public, to recognize that the struggles and horrors our people have suffered should inspire solidarity with others who faced and continue to face the same. From the unspeakable nightmares of genocide to the daily attacks of racism, what we have suffered has been suffered by innumerable others.

That is why your disgusting treatment of Native Americans in your upcoming Netflix film release The Ridiculous Six is so abhorrent. Like your fellow Jews, the indigenous people of America have suffered a massive genocide. Like your fellow Jews, they were demonized by the media and press. Even American children’s cartoons only a few years ago, like the ones published by Nazi Germany about Jews, showed Native Americans as barbarians who deserved to be killed. Like the Jewish boys kidnapped into the Czar’s armies, Native American children were forced away from their families into boarding schools where they were forcibly stripped of their cultures, faiths, and languages. And much the same as my father was beaten up as a kid for being a k***, native kids are attacked by fans at sports games, wearing fake head dresses, hooping and hollering “war chants,” dumping drinks on them, and calling them r*******. Like our Jewish grandmothers who were raped in the pogroms and shtetls of Europe with no legal recourse, Native American women are two and a half times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than your average American woman.

So for you to make a film where you hire native actors then mock them by promoting racist depictions: showing them as dirty and uncivilized, demeaning the women by giving them names like “no-bra” and “beaver breath,” mocking and profaning their ceremonies and cultures, is unforgivable. For you to still defend a project so offensive that a dozen Native American actors and cultural consultants walked off the set is a sign of either willful ignorance or overt racism. When we have fought to be depicted as something other than the hooked nose ganef and the miserly, conniving Shylock, you make a movie showing stereotyping Native Americans as “savages.” You, as an actor and a Jew, of all people, should understand. I stand with each and every actor that walked off the set that day. And as a Jew, Mr. Sandler, you should have too.Racism hurts

They're pointing why the movie is harmful:

The Reason Adam Sandler’s Racist Depiction of Native American Women Matters

By Jacqueline KeelerThe promotion of these outdated stereotypes is particularly harmful considering a 2010 Department of Justice report that found Native American women have two and a half times the rate of rape and murder of any ethnic group of women in the country. And the report found that in nearly 70 percent of the assaults on Native women the assailants were white men. This is unusual as most women in the United States are assaulted by men of their own race/ethnicity. If it were not for the additional assaults by white men, Native women’s rates of murder and rape would be closer to average of other American women.

On many Native American reservations, gaps in jurisdiction mean no one is prosecuted for these assaults. A recent revision in the Violence Against Women’s Act (2013) expanded tribal jurisdiction over non-Indians for Domestic Violence offenses but the law is still only being implemented.

For many Native American women the question is not if, but when women in their family will be raped. Lisa Brunner, an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault in her community, the White Earth Nation in Minnesota, told The Guardian, “I call it hunting—non-natives come here hunting. They know they can come onto our lands and rape us with impunity because they know that we can’t touch them.” Tragically, her teenaged daughter was also gang raped by four men from off the reservation before the new VAWA law was passed.

On her Facebook page, a former Miss Navajo Nation (and the first African-American/Navajo winner) wrote, “We have to control how we are satirized and make fun of ourselves. We need to stop allowing Hollywood to perpetuate unoriginal, antiquated, racist stereotypes that have long been used by media in general, or since the settlers first made contact with us … As for Netflix defending Adam Sandler and his movie, this shows that they themselves care little about being original or creative when it concerns Indigenous people.”

Native American Actors Work to Overcome a Long-Documented Bias

By Cara BuckleyThe walkout prompted a rhetorical “What do you expect from an Adam Sandler film?,” and a Netflix spokesman said that in the movie, blacks, Mexicans and whites were lampooned as well. But Native American actors and critics said a broader issue was at stake. While mainstream portrayals of native peoples have, Mr. Wente said, become “incrementally better” over the decades, he and others say, they remain far from accurate and reflect a lack of opportunities for Native American performers. What’s more, as Native Americans hunger for representation on screen, critics say the absence of three-dimensional portrayals has very real off-screen consequences.

“Our people are still healing from historical trauma,” said Loren Anthony, one of the actors who walked out. “Our youth are still trying to figure out who they are, where they fit in this society. Kids are killing themselves. They’re not proud of who they are.” They also don’t, he added, see themselves on prime time television or the big screen. Netflix noted while about five people walked off the “The Ridiculous Six” set, 100 or so Native American actors and extras stayed.

But in interviews, nearly a dozen Native American actors and film industry experts said that Mr. Sandler’s humor perpetuated decades-old negative stereotypes. Mr. Anthony said such depictions helped feed the despondency many Native Americans feel, with deadly results: Native Americans have the highest suicide rate out of all the country’s ethnicities.

The on-screen problem is twofold, Mr. Anthony and others said: There’s a paucity of roles for Native Americans—according to the Screen Actors Guild in 2008 they accounted for 0.3 percent of all on-screen parts (those figures have yet to be updated), compared to about 2 percent of the general population—and Native American actors are often perceived in a narrow way.Stop the stereotyping

And they're demanding that Hollywood change:

How do we stop misrepresenting First Nations culture? Just ask

Television shows and movies are the biggest culprits

By Don MarksPerhaps these people believe in the old adage, "There's no such thing as bad publicity"—if the controversy draws attention to your product or event, you get free "advertising."

Then there could be those who are simply arrogant enough to think they are above the fray; they believe they can brush off the critics by saying they are "too sensitive."

And then there are those who are naive enough to think they can convince First Nations they meant no harm and/or the image is actually good for them.

So what can we do to prevent this calamity from creeping up time and again? Ask First Nations people what they think about the appropriateness of the action you are planning beforehand.

And take the time to listen to and understand the concerns First Nations are raising. Perhaps there is a way to compromise and work together for the common good.

A turning point for Native Americans in Tinseltown?

By Esther CepedaSo far, Rolling Stone reports, a producer promised the cast that a disclaimer at the end of the movie would reiterate that Sandler's movie is not an accurate portrayal of Native American culture.

Understatement of the year.

The truth is that the 500-nation Native American culture is richly diverse--with different regional customs and beliefs--and will never be accurately portrayed in the media until Native Americans are integral parts of the production and creative teams that tell stories about individuals, not a monolithic Indian people.

There will probably always be ridiculous portrayals of Native American culture in entertainment, but for some, this felt like a precedent.

Maybe this headline-grabbing Native American uprising will end up making filmmakers think twice next time--even for a fleeting moment. Or maybe inspire more Native American actors to bypass Hollywood and start creating and promoting their own authentic content.

This would be, at least, a start.Listen Up Hollywood: It’s Time To Let Native Americans Tell ‘Our Own Stories In Our Own Words’

"I would love as a Native actress to be able to go out and audition for the lead in a superhero film."

Comment:  For more on Adam Sandler, see Ricky Lee Defends Ridiculous 6 and Adam Sandler's History of Racism.

Ricky Lee defends Ridiculous 6

EXCLUSIVE: Native American actor defends Adam Sandler amid 'The Ridiculous 6' controversy

By Ethan SacksRicky Lee, who plays a medicine man in the Netflix Western comedy, reached out the Daily News to "set the record straight" over reports that several Native actors walked off the production, outraged over offensive stereotypes in the movie.

"There were four actors who left, but there were 150 extras, including grandmas and grandpas and children, who kept working," the 60-year-old Sante Fe-based actor told the News.You expect old Native women and men to stand up and protest? When they were beaten at boarding schools for talking back to whites? They're about the last people I'd expect to make a move against a famous movie star and his followers.

Extras don't get to read the script. In a crowd of 150, most people will be too far away to hear the action. And old people can't hear well in general.

Also, Natives may speak a language other than English. Most people don't want to embarrass themselves in front of their peers. The children, the cameras, the heat, etc. may have distracted them.

Given all these factors, it's asinine to expect some sort of spontaneous protest. These people weren't young, savvy millennials used to demanding their rights. They were the exact opposite of someone likely to challenge an authority figure.The controversy was boosted by leaked cellphone video that caught a producer telling the disgruntled actors, that they "shouldn't be in the movie" if they're "overly sensitive" about the film's depiction of American Indians.

But Lee, who is visible in the footage, said the camera person, who took the video secretly, conveniently left out the rest of the producer's comments. He says associate producer Barry Bernardi promised that a disclaimer would be added to stress that the movie isn't historically accurate.Only one in a thousand viewers will read the fine print in the credits. So that's like one-thousandth of a remedy. It's basically worthless.

That seems to be what Lee thinks the media has missed. The only person who's missed something is him.

He's missed how a disclaimer does nothing to address the problem. And how he's shilling for a racist against his own people.

For more on Adam Sandler, see Adam Sandler's History of Racism and Ridiculous 6 Adviser Speaks Out.

Adam Sandler's history of racism

Adam Sandler’s ugly track record with race: The dumb, offensive, unfunny movie moments that came before “The Ridiculous Six”

You know it's bad when you see how "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" is his most empathetic recent comedy

By Matthew RozsaAdam Sandler is probably not a racist, but his movies definitely have a long history of racial insensitivity. If anything, it’s surprising that he hasn’t been called out about this (at least on a larger scale) until now.

As the moviegoing world learned last week, roughly a dozen Native American actors walked off the set of Sandler’s upcoming comedy “The Ridiculous Six” to protest his depiction of Apaches. Among other things, they were offended by the various vulgar puns used as character names (e.g., Beaver’s Breath, No Bra, Sits-on-Face), a scene in which a Native American woman is shown squatting down to urinate while smoking a peace pipe, and the fact that the costumes resorted to visual stereotypes instead of accurately representing how Apaches looked. The inevitable hashtag movement protesting the film sums up the fundamental complaint rather succinctly: #NotYourHollywoodIndian

This isn’t the first time that Sandler’s movies have contained insulting racial characterizations. A short list of comparable controversies would include frequent Sandler collaborator Rob Schneider donning yellow face to play native Hawaiian and Japanese characters in “50 First Dates” and “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry” (although Schneider is of Filipino ancestry himself, that doesn’t excuse him using garish make-up and mugging to ridicule other Asian ethnic groups), the caricatures passed off as Mexican-American characters in “Jack and Jill” (such as a grotesque elderly Mexican woman being knocked out and revived with jalapenos and a gardener who makes racially self-disparaging comments before adding, “Just kidding”), or the various insulting tropes about Africans from “Blended” (described by one South African reviewer as depicting native Africans as “oversexed and leering, bumbling and inarticulate, or just bone lazy”). While all of these problems were noticed at the time those films were released, none received a great deal of attention because the business and creative personnel involved in producing those movies apparently, for the most part, toed the line—which, incidentally, is one more reason to applaud the Native Americans who walked off the set to publicly demonstrate their unwillingness to play along.

Although it is tempting to defend “The Ridiculous Six” along the lines used by cast member Vanilla Ice (“It’s a comedy. I don’t think anybody really had any ill feeling or any intent or anything. This movie isn’t ‘Dances With Wolves.’ It’s a comedy.”), it’s important to remember that comedy can promote discriminatory attitudes. The minstrel shows of Jim Crow America or anti-Semitic burlesques in Third Reich Germany did more than make audiences laugh. By perpetuating popular stereotypes, they reinforced the idea that certain groups of people were inherently different, with each individual being easily reducible to a handful of traits commonly associated with others who shared their background.’Ridiculous 6’ dispute again exposes Sandler’s mean side

By Michael PhillipsThe movie is months away from completion. We don’t know if any of the Native American characters are in on any of the jokes, which rely (judging from versions of the script leaked online) on guys talking about putting their “pee-pee” into someone’s “teepee.”

As the title of Bob Hope’s final starring vehicle put it: Cancel my reservation.

This much is clear. People of color, to say nothing of women, who have been marginalized, patronized or humiliated by a stupid joke in an Adam Sandler movie over the last few years constitute the biggest club in modern Hollywood. And until last week, that club was one of the least heralded, if only because its members have been putting up with the demeaning treatment for a century.

We routinely give comedy, and comedians, a pass because (according to the traditional argument) you can’t get a laugh without offending somebody. One person’s edgy winner (“Borat,” for example) is another’s cause for outrage.

But something has been bubbling beneath the surface of too many Sandler comedies in recent years, a cold, mean-spirited smugness reeking of unexamined white-male privilege.Adam Sandler is awful, and it’s our fault

By Michael E. MillerThe last film [Blended] drew particular ire. New Yorker critic Richard Brody called it “grotesquely offensive”:No sooner do the families arrive at the resort than the obliviously trivializing depictions of black people, based on long-superseded stereotypes, begin. The Friedmans get out of their limo and are greeted by the hotel’s staff, all black, starting with a singing group, called Thathoo (pronounced “Tattoo”). The group leader’s eye-rolling and glad-handing, his lubriciously insinuating and exaggeratedly jiving, all seem to be taken straight from a minstrel show. And, throughout the movie, the group pops up like a Greek chorus to underline the action. There’s also an obsequious greeter whose exaggerated ingratiations would shame the hospitality business. Though his malapropisms are ultimately seen to be a canny joke, his manner is never anything but grinningly servile. And there’s an elderly slacker, sleeping on the job and avoiding responsibility, whose lazy ways are a monstrous and venerable cliché.Despite reviews like that, “Blended” still made almost $50 million. So is it any surprise that Sandler is now giving us more lazy stereotypes and crass clichés?Miller's conclusion:When actors are walking off of his set in disgust, maybe it’s time Sandler started paying attention to what people are saying about him. Otherwise he might end up becoming what he once joked of being: not particularly talented and not particularly good-looking. Just a multimillionaire.One explanation for Sandler's racism may be that he belongs to the political party of white supremacy:

Republican 'Actor' Adam Sandler Offends Native Americans

By LeftOfCenterA Republican mindset probably wouldn't understand that names assigned to Native American women like "Beaver's Breath" or "NoBra," might be offensive. A group of Native extras on the set of Adam Sandler's latest flick, The Ridiculous 6, simply walked out after pleading to producers to address their concerns.

Many don't realize Sandler is a registered Republican. He even performed at the 2004 RNC Convention in New York City. You remember that, the celebration of four more years of George W. Bush, what a guy! The fact that he's more comfortable with his political leanings seem to be inversely proportional to his attempts at humor. I'll admit, I liked movies like Billy Madison, but his attempt at making humor out of a teacher/student sex scandal in That's My Boy, was disastrous at best.Comment:  A registered Republican...yes, that explains a lot. Most Republicans are either racist themselves or insensitive to racism. They're exactly the people who make racist jokes and then blame others for being "too sensitive."

For more on Adam Sandler, see Ridiculous 6 Adviser Speaks Out and Should Natives Boycott Netflix?

Ridiculous 6 adviser speaks out

Why I Quit Adam Sandler's Movie: Ridiculous Six's Apache Consultant Speaks

By Vincent SchillingLast week, a group of Native actors walked off the set of the Adam Sandler comedy The Ridiculous Six to protest the film's content. One of the key dissenters was Bruce Klinekole, Apache, who had been hired as the film's Native American cultural consultant. Klinekole, whose last name translates as "Catch the Horse," objected to the Netflix production's repeated gross misrepresentations of Apache culture, dangerous bow-and-arrow scenes involving inexperienced actors, and being denied the chance to even speak to Adam Sandler.

After his requests for changes were ignored, 65 year old Klinekole spoke with other Native Elder friends, including David Hill (an actor who ended up joining the walk-off), about what to do. When Klinekole saw four eagles circling above the set, he knew it was a sign to walk off the set.

"I wasn't allowed to talk to a producer and they wouldn't allow me to talk to anybody," Klinekole told ICTMN. "They wouldn't let me do anything. Nothing."

“I said, 'Okay, that's all, I'm going," he continued. "I felt bad for my fellow people who were there but there was nothing I could do. I couldn't say anything on behalf of my Native people or on behalf of my Apache people who were depicted so badly.”Comment:  A brief discussion of the adviser's role:

Klinekole was arguably too naive. I wouldn't walk onto a set with a completed script, props, costumes, etc. and expect them to change everything. If you're not advising from the pre-production stage on, you might as well not bother.I couldn't believe he had to go through a PA--basically a college intern. The lowest rung and she arrogantly denied him access--of course, she had no power to grant him access. I've been a PA and I would have TRIED.The whole adviser role was obviously a joke. Or maybe it was another of Sandler's attempts at "satire."

They never intended to do anything the adviser said. They should've changed his title to "Fig Leaf for Covering Our Asses" or "Excuse for Giving Our Racism a Pass."The role was designed to have someone to blame. They knew it was horrible, they knew Natives would be upset, so they had him set up as the fall guy, expecting it wouldn't hit the fan until AFTER the film came out, and they could blame him and say, "Hey, we had a cultural advisor!"For more on Adam Sandler, see Should Natives Boycott Netflix? #NotYourHollywoodIndian.

Should Natives boycott Netflix?

Natives debate whether to boycott Netflix because of The Ridiculous 6, its racist Adam Sandler movie.

Yes, Unsubscribe From Netflix: These Small Steps Matter for Native Self-Esteem

By Gyasi RossWord to the wise: Adam Sandler is not going to magically start making intelligent movies. Promise. He is too rich and arrogant and unspiritual to realize that an organization created by individuals within his culture—the Anti-Defamation League, started by Jewish Americans—was started precisely to combat the kinds of portrayals of Jewish people as his movie made of Natives in The Ridiculous Six. He doesn’t care that he’s a hypocrite and that’s why he hasn’t responded—he’s rich!

Apparently spirituality and conscience goes out the window when one acquires wealth. If that’s the case, I honestly hope I never get rich.

Anyway, that’s not a surprise. What IS surprising is the lame, condescending and tired excuse provided by Netflix—that, essentially, Native people are “in on the joke.” This is more troubling than Sandler’s idiocy—at least he’s staying true to form. Netflix, however, is breaking new ground and flaunting the sad truth that they don’t mind swimming in the water of SO many other patriarchal, arrogant white folks in relation to Native people—they’re talking for us, telling us how we feel. This is an extension of the Justice John Marshall “domestic, dependent nations” logic, that somehow Native people are unqualified to feel for ourselves and tell others how we feel.

We Natives need someone to interpret the way we feel for us. Like a ward needs his guardian.

Let me be honest—I LOVE Netflix. I hope Netflix does the right thing! I have had Netflix for years and dig their distribution model and up until last week’s condescension to Native people, I’ve watched Jack Reacher on Netflix at least once a week for the past year. But life is full of uncomfortable decisions and those brave actresses and actors literally put their careers on the line for the sake of integrity—the least I can do it put Jack Reacher up for a little while. You folks inspired me. And those brave actresses and actors, whether that was their intent or not, said that it is NOT OK for non-Natives to speak for Native people (or even for Native people to speak for other Natives as has happened during other social justice movements). Condoning white people speaking for us is arrogant, it’s ugly and it’s a throwback to a time when Native people simply did not have the access to media that we do today.

Therefore, until Netflix chooses to acknowledge Native voices and meet and confer with members of our community in a public forum, I’m getting off of Netflix. I encourage you folks to do the same—they do not value your opinions and don’t even acknowledge when a group of Native people asks them to consider a reasonable position.”Young: 'No, I Will Not Deactivate My Netflix Account'

By Brian YoungNetflix is a company. It’s not a person with which can be reasoned. It will not understand a conversation on how degrading and damaging ‘injun’ stereotypes can be (I’ll recommend a movie that addresses that. It’s also on Netflix!). As a company, Netflix understands numbers. Yes, the more people that deactivate their accounts, the louder the message they’ll hear. That’s forcing them to our will, not educating them to our cause. The latter will have a much longer lasting effect. We as a unified movement have that power to either force them or education them. We have to education them. While forcing them to our will might reap short term effects, such as canceling “The Ridiculous Six,” we must think of the long run and what long term effects we can achieve.

Hollywood, and by extension Netflix and Adam Sandler, do not care about the representation of Native Americans. Since its birth, Hollywood and its byproducts have never been about telling our stories. Hollywood is a business that understands ratings, viewing numbers and consumer demand. Adam Sandler, and other big name Hollywood actors, are attached to projects to reduce risk so that investors will have more confidence that their initial investment will reap financial returns once the movie is released. What does that mean for Native films? Hollywood, unfortunately, thinks that Native films do not have a market and thusly are a high-risk, low return financial investment. In other words, Native films are a waste of money.

This is why I am imploring you to not deactivate your account. Instead, watch a film made by a Native person. There are many, many great films that you can watch. As of right now, in the United States Netflix streaming catalog, you can watch Neil Diamond’s “Reel Injun,” a documentary about ‘injun’ stereotypes, Jeff Barnaby’s “Rhymes for Young Ghouls,” (every single millisecond oozes style and captivates); Sterlin Harjo’s latest film, “This May Be The Last Time;” the classic, “Smoke Signals,” and “Jimmy P”–not necessarily a Native film, but a film about a Native, starring Benicio Del Toro.

Several movies in Netflix’s DVD catalog include, “The Lesser Blessed” (watch this!), and the above mentioned “Boy” and “Bran Nue Dae,” and “Incident at Oglala: The Leonard Peltier Story.” There’s even “Longmire,” which have Native actors (yours truly included, again shameless self-promotion). Heck, even “Breaking Bad” has Jeremiah Bitsui, a Navajo actor.Young even started a petition:

Expand your native films and produce more native content

By Brian YoungDepictions such as those found in “The Ridiculous Six” support the fallacy that Native Americans and Native American women are less than human. Racial stereotyping leads to racial discrimination. Racial discrimination leads to racially charged violence. The overly sexualized depiction of Native American woman, as seen with “Beaver Breath”, “Sits-On-Face” and the phrase “We go someplace and I put my peepee in your teepee” supports the notion that Native American woman are animalistic, inhuman, and promiscuous. The combination of racial stereotyping and the hyper sexualized depiction of Native American women can only create an ideology that leads to the increased violence against this population. These impacts cannot be hidden behind the guise of levity. The jokes in “The Ridiculous Six” are harmful, dangerous, and nowhere near satirical.

To combat the negative stereotyping of Native Americans, we are demanding that you support Native American filmmakers, actors, producers, directors, and films in general. To do so, we ask that you expand your native film selections. As a distribution company, you are constantly seeking to expand your catalog so as to better your customer experience. Native Americans are also a part of your customer base, as evident in the social media campaigns #WalkOffNetflix and #VivaNativeCinema. By expanding your catalog with Native films, you will present an accurate representation of Native Americans and Native American women, thus reducing racial stereotyping to your 30 million subscription base. We would like to suggest some titles that would be an asset to your DVD and streaming catalog: Lee Tamahori’s Once We Were Warriors, Bruce McDonald’s Dance Me Outside, Anne Makepeace’s We Still Live Here, Courtney Hunt’s Frozen River (on stream, already available on DVD), Dee Brown’s Bury My Heart At Wounded Knee (on stream, already available on DVD), Peter Stebbing’s Empire of Dirt, Georgina Lightning’s Older Than America, the Aboriginal t.v. series Mohawk Girls, Andrew Okpeaha MacLean’s On The Ice, Rick Derby’s Rocks With Wings, Steve Barron’s DreamKeeper, Shonie and Andee De La Rosa’s Mile Post 398, Niki Caro’s Whale Rider (on stream, already available on DVD), and Sara McIntyre’s Two Indians Talking. These suggestions serve as only a beginning, as this list is in no way inclusive or final. Native American filmmakers are continuing to create and produce films as we write this petition, and this demographic will only continue to grow.Comment:  A boycott won't work because Netflix isn't a person? But a petition will? Alas, Young's position is inconsistent.

Boycotts and petitions aren't attempts to reason with a company. Rather, they're attempts to influence a company by bringing market pressures to bear.

In particular, they're attempts to influence the bean-counters in charge of the bottom line. Whether the company has a "conscience" and acts for moral reasons is almost irrelevant.

As long as the company stops its racism, we don't much care about its motivation. Changing the harmful behavior is the first and most necessary step. Educating the company about its mistakes is secondary.

Besides, being forced to publicly admit one's mistakes and change one's policies is inherently educational. When you punish a child or a pet, you don't necessarily have to explain your reasoning. The punishment alone educates the child or pet not to do wrong again.

That said, a boycott or a petition probably won't have much effect. Netflix's streaming service has some 30 million subscribers. I doubt they'd even notice the actions of a few hundred protesters.

For more on Adam Sandler, see #NotYourHollywoodIndian and Native Actors Denounce Sandler.

#NotYourHollywoodIndian

Native activists took to Twitter to criticize Adam Sandler and his Ridiculous 6 movie:

Native activists tell Adam Sandler, Netflix they're #NotYourHollywoodIndian

Activists use hashtag #NotYourHollywoodIndian to pressure Netflix to cancel production of The Ridiculous Six

By John BowmanAs news of the walkout spread, Red Shirt-Shaw began posting about it on Twitter under the hashtag #NotYourHollywoodIndian, which was inspired by some of the actors' comments.

"I logged into social media and saw that a ton of people were talking about it, but that the ideas weren't consolidated, so I decided to try to push it out there," she said.

"I'm just moved by how it has grown and seeing the people come out and support it, and seeing news articles reference it," said Red Shirt-Shaw. "I think that we have to stand as a united front."

She also co-founded a petition on Change.org urging Netflix to cancel the production of The Ridiculous Six.

"We're really hoping that we can build up the signatures that are on there and present this to Netflix in a way that will say 'We're not going to support you. People have already cancelled their subscriptions. You guys really need to evaluate whether or not this is a project you want to move forward with in the future,'" she said.

So far, Netflix remains committed to the movie.Can the recycled bigotry of Adam Sandler's Ridiculous Six do some good?

By Jaynie ParrishThe image of a 21st century American Indian is a twisted reality, especially in Hollywood and sports. Of course that’s been true since the first films were made about American Indians—or the first team names were chosen. That’s the legacy of the old world.

But, like many other marginalized groups, social media gives us a different way to amplify our message.

On Friday California writer Megan Red Shirt-Shaw created a hashtag, #notyourhollywoodIndian: “I applaud the actors who walked off that set,” she wrote. “A comedy directed & acted by Native American comedians would revolutionize comedy.”

Hashtags like these allow people to say what they believe without the filter of the mainstream press–and even to the mainstream press. Being heard gives us the ability to hold people accountable, even big name movie stars.

Hashtags aren’t enough, of course–they’re not our votes. And our outrage should also be directed at critical matters like better health care, safe water and improving the social and economic conditions Native Americans continue to face. A terrible Adam Sandler isn’t the worst of our problems–but if it brings us together and gives us a public platform, perhaps, inadvertently, the bigotry on display in his film will be a starting point for how we do change the world.'Hey Adam ... Let's Talk': The #NotYourHollywoodIndian Q&A

By Arturo R. GarcíaWhat, if anything, could Sandler and Netflix do to help remedy the situation?

Red-Shirt Shaw: I would be lying if I didn’t say I hope they cancel this film—but I’m also still waiting to hear from the comedian himself. Until then, let’s keep telling him “Hey Adam, we’re #NotYourHollywoodIndian—let’s talk.”What do you think?

What happens next, both for this campaign and Native In America?

Red-Shirt Shaw: I hope that #NotYourHollywoodIndian changes the conversation in the film industry about Indigenous identity and that the movement is productive, that ultimately people are using their positivity and power to educate. I hope that Natives In America takes over the world. Period. On a smaller scale … I hope the entire amazing NIA team knows how much they are surprising and inspiring people with their stories about being Native in the 21st century. Until we break through that glass ceiling of who America thinks we are, we have to keep telling our tales. And we will.Adam Sandler movie sparks debate over American Indian images

By Russell ContrerasIn recent years, Native Americans have been more outspoken.

For example, in 2013, some Native Americans were critical of Johnny Depp's portrayal on Tonto in the Disney version adaptation of "The Lone Ranger." Depp spoke in broken English, chanted prayers and wore a stuffed crow on his head. However, after a campaign by the movie to improve its image with Native Americans, Depp was eventually embraced on the Navajo Nation and was later adopted into the Comanche Nation.

A year before, the band No Doubt was forced to apologize and pull the music video "Looking Hot" after lead singer Gwen Stefani was criticize for dancing around teepees and wearing a series of American Indian-styled outfits.Comment:  I believe activists tried to create a Twitterstorm using the #NotYourHollywoodIndian tag. But I saw only a few postings on the subject, and didn't hear anything about it afterward. I don't think it was a big success.

For more on Adam Sandler, see Native Actors Denounce Sandler and Vanilla Ice Defends Ridiculous 6.

Native actors denounce Sandler

'Our Dignity Is a Right' Say Native Actors Who Quit Adam Sandler Film

By Vincent SchillingWhat are your thoughts about bringing up Native rights in the context of the entertainment industry?

David Hill: I hope more people get on board for championing Native rights not just in movies or TV but wherever our rights are challenged. We have a non-Indian culture that complains about the rights that we do have. We have a non-Indian culture that pretty well complains about the rights we have that are different from theirs but the right to respect is something that exists through all cultures.

Our dignity is a right that we have to fight for. When you consider the suicide rates of our children, that is a direct result of destruction of culture, dignity, self image, and those things that make a person complete. We have to stand up somewhere, and what we did that day may not be much but it may have a butterfly effect to get people motivated to start and think that they can make a difference.

What do you say to the people who have expressed that this is a comedy and Native Americans are being too sensitive? Or to Netflix's statement that the movie is supposed to be ridiculous?

David Hill: When we were talking to them they said if you don’t like it, leave. We told them we will leave but this is not going to be the end of this. Them saying that this is a comedy and that this is a joke, that is nothing more than an excuse to perpetuate racism. It is a cover word to allow racism. The director said, "Adam Sandler makes fun of himself." But there is a difference between making fun of yourself and making fun of the people that are oppressed.Dear Adam Sandler: I've Picked Your Indian Name

By Marc YaffeeI was very excited to hear you would be working in New Mexico to produce the first movie in your four-picture Netflix deal. The fact that you were casting a large group of Native actors and extras for The Ridiculous Six was a good sign. Diversity in films is always good and we have plenty of good Native actors willing and ready to work. Hell, your production company even hired a cultural advisor. I believe his name was Bruce. I’ve never heard of an Indian named Bruce. Was he actually an Indian or your cousin who had taken a Native American studies class? I don’t know but on the surface it appeared you were trying to do the right things.

Unfortunately, there was just one problem with the whole movie: you wrote it. I only read a small portion of the script but it was like taking one bite of tainted meat or one sip of rotten milk (hey, wait, I’m not eating meat and I’m lactose intolerant). It stinks. It’s not only offensive to Native Americans, it’s offensive to ALL Americans. Okay, especially Native Americans. Not every Native actor or extra walked off the set but I have a feeling that when it comes out on Netflix, the rest of them will wish they had.

If you want to lampoon and stereotype a people for laughs, at least be satirical and brilliant, instead of ignorant and unfunny. And next time you really want to Insult Indians, go old school and hire Italians and Mexicans to play them. At least no Indians would have to feel embarrassed about being in your movie. After all, our people have already suffered enough.A letter to Adam Sandler

By Jon Santaanta ProudstarI am ashamed at your action or lack thereof. I am Hasidic Jew on my father’s side and take great pride in that as well as my Native and Hispanic heritage. You bring shame to the Jewish people. You, who belong to a race who faced a genocide, and relocation, theft, rape, indignation. These things our people share in common. What you have done is shown your ability to act as your oppressors once did.

I promise you we will have words someday Mr. Sandler.As a Native Actor, I Applaud Those Who Walked off the Set of Adam Sandler’s Racist Movie

By Tyson HousemanWhen I was younger, I acted in some of the Twilight movies. I played a shape-shifting werewolf who was a member of a fictionalized version of the Quileute Tribe, a real Native American tribe in Washington. In light of the media coverage that Adam Sandler's newest racist pile of shit is receiving due to some Native American actors walking off the set because it's a racist pile of shit, I felt compelled to offer some insight up for public consumption from my own experiences as an Indigenous actor who has dealt with racism in the film industry. First of all I should note that I am fully aware of The Twilight Saga's problematic portrayal of Native Americans and the appropriation of real Quileute myths and traditions into fantasy. I say 'problematic' because these films offer the image of Native Americans basically as mythical creatures, but they are also some of the few Hollywood blockbusters depicting contemporary Native characters as opposed to fake historic relics of a romanticized early American frontier.

I knew that the character I was playing was problematic and I still did it because it was a huge opportunity. This problematic portrayal was never discussed on-set between actors or writers—it was kind of an elephant in the room. It's easy to take a moral stance on something but as we all know it's a lot fucking harder to stand by your morals when they are put to the test, which is why I have nothing but praise for the group of actors who were able to stick to their guns and walk off the set of Sandler's ridiculous shitpile. Indigenous actors face struggles of misrepresentation all the time, from racist typecasting to insensitive and false historical research, and I know from experience that it takes a great deal of courage to stand up to this. Unfortunately, the majority of the roles in film and TV for Indigenous actors are for characters like "the brave" or "the savage," one-liner characters that do nothing but add some colour to background shots or get killed when they foolishly attack the (white) protagonist (all of this comes from personal audition experience). So the attention this story has received over the past week goes to show that a good deal of people are ready to break free from the perpetuation of these ancient stereotypes. Regardless of that, this film will still be made.

So why have these stereotypes been allowed to persist in the Hollywood machine for so long? Why, in 2015, does Adam Sandler think it's okay to write female characters named "No Bra" and "Beaver's Breath" and to reduce an entire group of human beings into caricature? The "Hollywood Indian" stereotype has been allowed to endure because the image of an oppressed, colonized culture looks better from the perspective of the colonizers before that culture started being oppressed. Hollywood prefers its silent, stoic noble savage to any real modern day depiction of indigeneity in film. Colonial North American society is still more comfortable with their romanticized image of a proud race of people who once graced an untouched landscape and have since subserviently and willingly disappeared into the shadows to make way for the "rightful" owners of that landscape to manifest their destiny. This idea of the "vanishing Indian" has been vital to the relieving of colonial guilt because if we don't have to see them then we can just pretend their culture must be gone. Hence shoving us on tiny plots of land called reservations.Comment:  For more on Adam Sandler, see Vanilla Ice Defends Ridiculous 6 and Natives Brave to Protest Sandler.

Below:  "Actors David Hill and Loren Anthony walked off the set of Adam Sandler's latest project."