Throughout Oscar history, presenters and even Oscar winners have chosen to use the occasion of the Academy Awards to make some political comments, such as Richard Gere making comments about China's human rights violations one year, or Tim Robbins and Susan Sarandon imploring the United States government to allow a group of HIV positive Haitians to enter the country. But some have stood out as major controversies. In 1977, when Vanessa Redgrave won her Supporting Actress Oscar for JULIA, she used her speech to comment about a bunch of "Zionist hoodlums," raising scattered boos and applause from the audience. A short time later, on that same telecast, Paddy Chayefsky came out to present the writing awards, and delivered a speech of his own, saying that he was sick and tired of people exploiting the occasion of the Academy Awards, "for the propagation of their own personal political propaganda. I would like to suggest to Miss Redgrave that her winning an Academy Award is not a pivotal moment in history, does not require a proclamation, and a mere thank you would have sufficed." That moment still remains one of Oscar's most controversial moments.
One year in the mid '70s, Frank Sinatra responded publicly on an Oscar telecast, rebuking Dustin Hoffman for his criticism of the Academy, saying "and contrary to what Dustin Hoffman thinks, it is not a disgusting evening, it is not garish, and it is not disrespectful."
Controversy even sometimes erupted by individuals who didn't want to accept their Oscars. George C. Scott made it known how little he respected the Oscar, saying he would be home watching a hockey game that night, and sure enough, his name was called as the Best Actor of 1970. The most well known example of an actor refusing his Oscar was Marlon Brando, who was named Best Actor of 1972 for THE GODFATHER. Brando wasn't at the Oscars either, but instead he sent Sacheen Littlefeather, an actress pretending to be Apache. She delivered the reason why Brando wouldn't accept his Oscar, due to the poor treatment of American Indians by the film industry, at which point various boos could be heard from the audience.
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