Native American actress Lily Gladstone — who stars opposite Leonardo DiCaprio in Martin Scorsese’s upcoming Killers of the Flower Moon — has trashed the hit Paramount Network series Yellowstone for its depiction of the American West, calling the show “deplorable” and “delusional.”
Lily Gladstone, who uses “she/they” pronouns, delivered her pronouncement in an interview with New York magazine’s Vulture.
“Delusional! Deplorable!” she responded when asked about the way Yellowstone portrays the west. “No offense to the Native talent in that. I auditioned several times. That’s what we had.”
It remains unclear why Gladstone detests the popular Kevin Costner series. The Vulture reporter didn’t appear to press her to elaborate. However, she hinted at a possible reason earlier in the interview.
“You want to have more Natives writing Native stories; you also want the masters to pay attention to what’s going on. American history is not history without Native history,” she said.
Yellowstone is written by Taylor Sheridan, who isn’t Native American, and focuses primarily but not exclusively on the Dutton family, who are white.
Both Yellowstone and Killers of the Flower Moon are from Paramount, with the latter being a co-production with Apple.
Killers of the Flower Moon, which will open in U.S. cinemas in October before streaming on Apple TV+, tells the true story of Osage Nation members who became rich after oil was discovered under their reservations in the early 20th century. Their sudden wealth drew opportunists who flocked to Oklahoma in an effort to get a piece of the action by any means necessary.
During the movie’s world premiere in May at Cannes, actor Robert De Niro called Trump supporters “insane.” He also compared former President Trump to the murderous real-life character he plays in the movie — William Hale, a cattle baron who was convicted in 1929 of murdering a member of the Osage nation over oil rights.
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