"NATIVE AMERICAN" READS STATEMENT PROTESTING REALITY SHOWS FOR "DEGRADING THE B-LIST CELEBRITY"LOS ANGELES - Drew Lachey shocked a national audience last night when he sent Sacheen Littlefeather to the stage to accept the trophy he was awarded for winning the dance competition on the ABC television show Dancing With the Stars. Littlefeather, who famously accepted the Academy Award for Best Actor won by Marlon Brando for his role in The Godfather in 1972, as well as the Nobel Prize for Literature won by Alexander Solzhenystin in 1979, read from a prepared text.
“Drew Lachey has asked me to tell you, in a very long speech which I cannot share with you presently, but will be glad to share with the press afterward, that he regretfully cannot accept this very generous reward.” Host Tom Bergeron attempted to take the microphone from Littlefeather, but Lachey, who apparently had been standing in the wings, dropped him to the floor with a karate chop to the back of his neck.
Littlefeather continued, and said that Lachey was declining the trophy because he wanted to draw attention to the plight of the erstwhile famous. “Mr. Lachey says that the producers of so-called reality television programs, who force former box office stars like George Hamilton to participate in their farces, are entirely responsible for degrading the B-list celebrity,” said Ms. Littlefeather. She added: “Mr. Lachey also is insulted that the producers of this show would present him with a 'trophy' that looks like something left over from Andy Gibb’s estate sale.”
This is the second time that the winner of Dancing With the Stars has refused the top prize. In Dancing With the Stars 1977, a Quinn Martin production, William Conrad defeated Buddy Ebsen in the finals, only to forfeit his victory when he learned the trophy was inedible.
