USC To Remove John Wayne Exhibit After Renewed Protests Over Actor’s Racist Remarks
The University of Southern California said Friday it would dismantle an exhibit about legendary actor John Wayne amid revived scrutiny over the late star’s past racist remarks as the U.S. reexamines race relations in the wake of the death of George Floyd.
KEY FACTS
The John Wayne exhibit will be removed from the USC School of Cinematic Arts building and put into the archives at the school’s library, the university said.
The exhibit will be housed alongside other artifacts and papers of influential Hollywood figures for research and scholarship.
Wayne, who attended USC on a football scholarship for two years in the 1920s, made several racist remarks in a 1971 Playboy Magazine interview, in which he said: “I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility. I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgment to irresponsible people.”
In the same interview, Wayne also said that early American settlers weren’t wrong for taking Native American land. “There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves,” he said.
Democrats in Orange County called last month for John Wayne airport to be renamed.
Though students previously demanded the exhibit be removed last year, the university ultimately decided to keep it while providing more context about how the American West is portrayed in film, the Daily Trojan reported.
CRUCIAL QUOTE
“Conversations about systemic racism in our cultural institutions along with the recent global, civil uprising by the Black Lives Matter movement require that we consider the role our school can play as a change-maker in promoting antiracist cultural values and experiences,” Evan Hughes, the school’s dean of diversity and inclusion, said in the announcement. “Therefore, it has been decided that the Wayne exhibit will be removed.”
CHIEF CRITIC
After California Democrats called on John Wayne airport to be renamed, Ethan Wayne, his son, issued a statement to Fox News defending his father. “The truth is, as we have seen in papers from his archives, he did not support ‘white supremacy’ in any way and believed that responsible people should gain power without the use of violence. Those who knew him, knew he judged everyone as an individual and believed everyone deserved an equal opportunity,” he said.
NEWS PEG
Leaders in business, politics and academia are rethinking the role of racist or controversial historical figures in response to Black Lives Matter protests across the country. Princeton dropped Woodrow Wilson’s name from its public policy school, the Washington Redskins are moving toward changing the team’s name and dozens of statues have been removed by city governments or toppled by protesters.
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