It’s been two weeks since Lily Gladstone appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! and it continues to live rent-free in my head. While Lily Gladstone’s appearance stirred up a lot of pride and excitement, it was also a stark reminder of how little experience and knowledge non-Native media has with Native entertainers and our communities.
Since her powerful and unforgettable portrayal of Molly Burkhart in Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon, it was inevitable that we’d see Lily Gladstone gracing the cover of magazines and making the rounds on various talk shows. She is, after all, not only starring in one of the biggest films of 2023 but already winning awards and making headlines as the first Native woman to be nominated for a Golden Globe and may very well be the first Native woman to win an Oscar.
So, it wasn’t a surprise but a moment of pride and excitement for NDN Country when Kimmel said, “Please Welcome, Lily Gladstone” on the December 5th episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live! When she took the stage, she was radiant and full of confidence as their conversation kicked off.
The conversation began with a cute story about Lily being voted ‘Most Likely to Win an Oscar’ in her high school yearbook, which led to a discussion about Star Wars: Return of the Jedi inspiring her to be an actress. Hilariously enough, it wasn’t Luke, Han, Leia, or even Chewbacca that she wanted to be. Oh no, Lily had her sights on being an Ewok because their struggle against the empire reminded her of Native resistance. It was a fun conversation, and Lily was crushing it.
And then it happened.
That incredibly uncomfortable, awkward, eye-rolling moment that every single Native has had to experience ad nauseam. The moment when non-Natives start claiming that they too are Native based on unverifiable blood myths and, of course, the unidentifiable great-great-grandma that they usually claim was Cherokee.
When the conversation turned to asking Lily about where she grew up, without even missing a beat, Jimmy said, “Can I tell you something? My whole, most of my life, my parents always said we are on my dad’s side, part Blackfeet Indian”. Kimmel continued, “And I thought we were, and then it turned out we did one of those DNA tests and not all.”
You could see Lily’s discomfort with the confession as she sardonically replied, “You’re not alone. That happens a lot in this country, and a lot of times we hear that, and we’re just like, ‘Oh, that’s cool. Who’s your family?’.
I’m not going to lie; I snortled when Kimmel answered, “I don’t know, the Kimmels.” Thankfully, Kimmel didn’t try to double down on his claims, and the conversation shifted to Leonardo Dicaprio’s fake teeth in Killers of the Flower Moon.
Weeks later, it is still so disappointing that Kimmel wasted an opportunity to shine a light on Lily’s experiences and accomplishments as a Native woman in Hollywood. Lily Gladstone is a powerhouse and deserves to be entirely centered and heard without being put in the position of entertaining racist blood myths and playing second fiddle to Dicaprio’s fake teeth.
While I know it was more ignorance than maliciousness, we’re going into 2024. After 520+ years, you would think that non-Natives would be able to interact and converse with Native people, whether they are entertainers or not, without being ignorant, weird, dismissive, and without trying to claim Native identities. I hate it needs to be said, but one does not need to be Native to relate, support, or befriend Native people. Let’s do better, people.