Adam Sandler Film ‘The Ridiculous Six’ Controversy: Native American Actors Walk Off Set

Santa Fe -- Spoiler alert: Adam Sandler’s new Netflix film “The Ridiculous Six” contains low-brow humour that many people will find offensive. Native Americans in particular may consider Sandler’s jokes demeaning. That might not be a surprise for Sandler’s fans, but as many as twelve Native American actors walked off the set of Sandler’s film on Wednesday, reportedly shocked by offensive lines in the script and historically inaccurate representations of Native American characters. Other indigenous actors defended the film, arguing that it is just a big joke. Indian Country Today Media Network (ICTMN) broke the story about the film, written by Sandler, which stars the Jewish comedian as well as Nick Nolte, Steve Buscemi, Dan Aykroyd, Jon Lovitz and Vanilla Ice.

The script of “Ridiculous Six” reportedly contains characters with names like Beaver’s Breath and No Bra, and a scene in which an Apache woman urinates while smoking a peace pipe. An actor who walked off of Sandler’s set in Las Vegas, New Mexico said that despite hiring a cultural consultant, Ridiculous Six producers refused to follow suggestions for historically accurate representations of indigenous characters. For example, producers reportedly insisted on decorating Apache characters with elements of Comanche dress such as braids and choker necklaces. Between the script and the costumes, some actors were offended and uncomfortable.

"When I began doing this film, I had an uneasy feeling inside of me and I felt so conflicted," Allison Young, an actress and former Dartmouth film student told ICTMN. "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 [....] This is supposed to be a comedy that makes you laugh. A film like this should not make someone feel this way.”

Other Native American actors working on the film disagreed with Young.

“Adam Sandler is a comedian; that’s what he does -- he pokes fun at different people and cultures for a laugh,” actor Ricardo Caté told the Santa Fe New Mexican. “There are a few things in the script which are questionable [...] some funny names that could be changed, but this is not a movie to be taken seriously.”

Caté, a Kewa Pueblo native, knows about poking fun at different cultures for a laugh. In addition to being an actor, Caté is the creator of “Without Reservations,” a comic strip that takes a comical look at indigenous culture and often pokes fun at Native Americans and Anglos alike.

“There’s nothing worse [in “Ridiculous Six”] than anything in my cartoons... If anything [racist happened on set] I would have walked off. the shoot has been fine,” Caté told the Santa Fe New Mexican, the local newspaper that publishes “Without Reservations”

His comments echoed a statement from Netflix to the Associated Press.

“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,” Netflix statement said.

Sandler is famous for parodying his own Jewish culture with self-deprecation and stereotype. As Breitbart writer John Nolte points out, Sandler’s comedies have poked fun at Jews at many other racial and ethnic groups.

“Did these actors really think they had earned some special protection from Sandler’s crude satire, which takes no prisoners. There’s nothing racist or stereotyped about any of the complaints listed above. It’s just crude and silly,” Nolte wrote in a recent article.

Yet disgruntled actors who walked off the set pointed to a different cultural context, implying that Natives face comparatively more blatant racism. For example would use the term “Kikes,” a derogatory term for Jews, but everyday thousands of Americans use the term “Redskin,” a racist term for Native Americans. Some Native Americans may be particularly sensitive, but it’s not like there’s a Anti-Defamation League to look out for them.

"[The producers] were being disrespectful," actor David Hill, Choctaw, who also walked off the se told ICTMN. "They were bringing up those same old arguments that Dan Snyder uses in defending the Redskins. But let me tell you, our dignity is not for sale. It is a real shame because a lot of people probably stay because they need a job.”