Adam Sandler calls that whole Native American thing a hilarious misunderstanding

By Katie Rife | July 20, 2015 | 6:35pm

Aux Features Film

Earlier this year, a group of Native American actors, primarily from the Navajo nation, walked off the set of Adam Sandler’s Netflix movie The Ridiculous Six after deciding that their people had already suffered too many indignities to put up with playing characters named “Beaver’s Breath” and “No Bra.” But Sandler, never one to let such petty concerns as “taste” shackle his comedic muse, didn’t stop there. According to “cultural consultant” Bruce Klinekole—unsurprisingly, the first to quit in protest—the crew also used bronzer to darken the skin of actors, including full-blooded Native Americans.

Then Netflix issued a statement, the movie finished filming, and we all shook our heads and moved on, our core belief in the stupidity of Adam Sandler intact. Now, two months later, Sandler has come forward to further reinforce that belief by calling the whole thing a “misunderstanding,” presumably his misunderstanding of the phrase “funny movie.” Calling The Ridiculous Six “pro-Indian,” Sandler says, “It was just a misunderstanding and once the movie is out will be cleared up.” In the red-carpet interview—conducted with movie site ScreenCrush at the premiere of his new movie, Pixels—he adds:

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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 percent to just make a funny movie. 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.

It’s kind of like how I Now Pronounce You Chuck And Larry was pro-gay, because it had gay characters in it. Or how Happy Gilmore was pro-Bob Barker, because Bob Barker was in it. Kind of like that.