There was some behind-the-scenes drama going on before the Academy Awards aired on Sunday night. Members of the Academy were arguing about the validity of honoring Sacheen Littlefeather during the In Memoriam tribute to those the entertainment industry lost during the past year.

Remember Sacheen Littlefeather? She caused a stir about 50 years ago as she represented actor Marlon Brando by declining his best actor Oscar in 1973. It turns out that she was what is known as a “pretendian.” She was not a Native American, she faked that identity. Her real name was Maria Louise Cruz. She died since the last Academy Awards ceremony and the Academy was going to include her in their In Memoriam segment. Her family asked that they not do that. Her sisters and a friend also asked that her memory be removed from the Academy Museum, where it currently sits next to a portrait of Sidney Poitier.

She was issued an apology from the Academy last year for her treatment after declining Brando’s award. The Academy should be embarrassed by being taken in by Ms. Cruz but they were going to recognize her anyway, apparently. Thus, the members were not on board with that executive decision.

To add insult to injury, another pretendian has been discovered and she is involved in Ms.Cruz’s story. Heather Rae, a leading influencer on Native American issues, helped with the Academy’s apology to Sacheen Littlefeather. It turns out that she has been claiming to be Cherokee but she is not. It has been discovered that her ancestors were European, among the first European settlers of the “New World.” They weren’t Cherokee, but they did occupy Cherokee lands. That’s an important distinction, right? Yeah. Ms. Rae is another Hollywood Pretendian.

Ms. Rae’s story is found on the Fake Indians blog.

So, I didn’t plan to watch the Academy Awards show last night but, out of curiosity over this brouhaha, I did. Sacheen Littlefeather was not among those honored during the In Memoriam tribute. The Academy did the right thing.

What a mess, though, with the pretendians. Ed has been writing about the subject, most recently as it pertains to Academia. Think Elizabeth Warren. She was a pretendian before pretendians were cool.

Here is an interesting video that shows lots of pretendians.

Cruz’s ancestry was Mexican and European. She was not a citizen of the White Mountain Apache tribal nation or the Yaqui tribal nation. The moral of the story is that if the Academy wants to represent Native Americans in film, they should be diligent in using true Native Americans. Legit people are available to help with that. It shouldn’t be a problem it obviously is for the industry.

Meanwhile, back to the show, there was not much controversy this year. There was no “slap” moment, though there was one awkward moment when the camera panned to actress Angela Bassett. She didn’t clap for Best Supporting Actress winner Jamie Lee Curtis. Bassett was a sore loser and it was caught on camera. It wasn’t a good look but maybe it was more honest than the fake looking smiles the nominees who don’t win awards plaster on their faces.

Another awkward moment happened when host Jimmy Kimmel did a skit with a Cocaine Bear character. Kimmel was in the audience and stopped to ask Taliban shooting survivor and Nobel Peace Prize winner Malala Yousafzai a dumb pop culture question. She politely answered that she only talks about peace. Then the Cocaine Bear character came to harass her a bit. It was dumb. Malala’s fans on social media were indignant that she was subjected to it. Welcome to Hollywood, Malala.

The host, 55, left the Nobel Peace Prize winner, 25, visibly uncomfortable as he approached her during a break in proceedings and asked her an awkward question about Harry Styles and Chris Pine’s ‘spit-gate’ drama.

The presenter read out a question from a fan named Joanne, saying: ‘She asked, your work on human rights and education for women and children is an inspiration–as the youngest Nobel prize winner in history, do you think Harry Styles spit on Chris Pine?’

Malala looked unsure and then responded: ‘I only talk about peace.’

A breezy Kimmel retorted: ‘You know what, that’s why you’re Malala and nobody else is. That’s a great answer, Malala. The winner is malala-land, everybody.’

Ugh.