Johnny Depp as Tonto

Johnny Depp as Tonto

Johnny Depp is cast as Tonto in the upcoming film The Long Ranger.   With an estimated budget of $215 million, the film is scheduled for release May 31, 2013.

The movie is sure to be a blockbuster.  How do you think Depp portrayal of a Native American will be?

Do you think this will be another stereotypical Cowyboys and Indians movie?  Or has Hollywood changed its view of Natives?


72 Comments on “Johnny Depp as Tonto”

  • Avatar for Phil

    Phil

    says:

    I like Jay Silverheels the best, although the writers of the old Lone Ranger show did not always show Tonto in the best light. Tonto was portrayed as a faithful and reliable man, and that part was good.

    Silverheels, a true Native American, pushed for more Native American actors, and that was helpful. I think it best for the role of Tonto to have an Native American actor

  • Avatar for Iris

    Iris

    says:

    I am full blooded Native American and all I can say is I love Johnny Depp whether he is Native American or not. He’s a great actor and I loved the movie, it had great humor in it and I laughed so hard I enjoyed it… and isn’t that what it’s all about…entertainment!? Come on lighten up it’s a movie, he’s an actor. And as far as using “real” Native Americans, find one that is as popular and as talented and funny as Johnny Depp and I’ll watch them too. I don’t care if he is red, white, black, purple, yellow or green. I love his skills and talent. AND I LOVED THE MOVIE!

  • Avatar for Keith

    Keith

    says:

    Wow, so many people arguing about whether Depp is NA or not, or why wasn’t an NA chosen for the part. Grow up…it is Hollywood. Yes, there are splendid NA actors, but not one has the star power or box office draw of Depp. Depp totally immersed himself in the role, as he always does. Was some of this movie hokey? Sure, but it was a semi-comedic movie. I think Hollywood’s presentation of Tonto, and his tragic interaction with the white men when he was a boy, was handled in an interesting and thought-provoking way.

  • Avatar for Adam

    Adam

    says:

    lol listen jimmy and bubba wood are the biggest deuces in live oak and mayo.thats how joey got bubbas pussy so easy.he gonna get the new pussy too dont worry bout it lol

  • Avatar for Czigany Shimza

    Czigany Shimza

    says:

    I think it will an award. I think Johnny Depp will be wonderful!

  • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

    Crystal McKinley

    says:

    I know why West hates white people. His mother was white. She abandoned him on the reservation with his father. That would make any child bitter. Somehow there are an abundance of others that chose not to be bitter. I have ndn friends and I make new friends occasionally. Today she happened to be ndn. She says everyone one she knows resent him for his attitude and can’t stand how he always tries to speak for all ndns. I’ll probably see her again next month at the Moundville Festival. I’m a volunteer there.

    • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

      Crystal McKinley

      says:

      Hi again West! Glad to see you like me so much. I feel the same way about you.
      I’m a little disappointed though. Your material is repetitive. That’s okay,you go ahead and get it all out of your system. I’m here for you friend. I see right through all that hate and bitterness. There’s a hurt little boy inside. Once your anger is spent you can have a happy,productive life.

      Your friend,
      Crystal

  • Avatar for Pennywise Pablo

    Pennywise Pablo

    says:

    I think it still might be a stereotype but i love johnny depp 🙂 ha he got me wanting to watch it, wither way there are right and wrongs but everything happens for a reason. 🙂

  • Avatar for Mahahgohemah

    Mahahgohemah

    says:

    West,

    Your heart is bitter, your spirit is lost, the road you walk is not the red road, you talk and behave as a child, you should seek out your elders, sweat and sak for forgivness

    • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

      Crystal McKinley

      says:

      Hey West! How’ve you been? I’ve missed you. It’s been too long. I haven’t had anyone try anywhere near as hard as you do to hate me or try to insult me. Nice to hear from you. Don’t be such a stranger! I can’t always find your messages here in the comments where we first met but I do get emails with your replies. I’m glad because I don’t want to loose contact with you.
      Say hi to your mom for me!

      Hope to hear from you again soon.

      Crystal

  • Avatar for West

    West

    says:

    So long, Uncle Frank Twinkie. It’s about time they got that tour bus through Navajolands fixec so we don’t have to listen to more of your Black History Month stories and lectures on Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, Johnny Depp, and eveyone who’s not NDN to teach us how to be more civilized on our own land. Now that we know how to be cigar store Indians maybe we can get a part out there in Monument riding bareback and upgrade our stereotypes to 1950.

    But no thanks, I don’t need your Wannabe tribe name, I got one of my own. The only ceremony you had lately was in a sweat lodge in Sedona you paid to get your shaman certificate from, from the same poser that sold you your Native American Cultural Awareness for Twinks workshop. We gave you an Indian name too, to go with your Tonto Halloween costume bird on your head. It’s called Walking Eagle. Google it like you did Tecumseh after I mentioned him so you could come back an act like you even knew who he was, Walking Eagle.

    If I’m 50 or 60, that makes me about 20 years younger than you, crossdressing Uncle Frank who likes to call everyone “dearie.” You need to go back to gayforjohnnydepp.com where you were touching yourself looking at pictures of him when that one in him in drag as Tonto showed up and you clicked on the http://www.powwows.com link and decided to go on a campaign for JD for Navajo Nations tribal council and found yourself surrounded by NDNs for the first time since Avatar. Maybe that’s why you can’t get it why, unlike lonely pasty old albinos wandering around looking for friends on the Internet, we talk in “we” because we are tribal and hang around in groups. It’s called having families and friends you don’t have to pay to stick around. Get back on the bus, it’s pulling out before that angry bird flies over and leaves you a message on the window and has his own naming ceremony.LOL

    Now we’re gonna have to smoke the whole http://www.powwows.com website down to get the moldy smallpox blanket pilgrim smell out.

    • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

      Crystal McKinley

      says:

      The only poser or wannabe on here is you. You’re a disgrace. Luckily no one has to claim you. Go play your game somewhere else. We’re done.

      • Avatar for West

        West

        says:

        If you’re done, can we use the bathroom now, ’cause we’re gonna have to take about 5 Number 2s to get the pilgrim poser smell out, LOLOL. Sorry, Aunt Twinkie, but we’re not the ones having a problem getting any tribe to claim us except the Wannabes. So you can take your wasichu shame and disgrace back to your tribe of Cherokee Jews and stuff it back in that bible and then stuff that up your cornhole, and then, for the last time, get back on that tour bus and get your white ass off my rez.

    • Avatar for Frank

      Frank

      says:

      To West :
      My Grandsons naming ceremony …. http://www.facebook.com/wutsup.ca
      Albert with Potlatch head-dress. The dance and regalia is handed down or acquired. Each animal spirit is sacred….depends on what Band ( Tribe ) culture, area etc…..As I said, Not everyone grew up like you , angry and in the Southwest US….
      There’s a lot of different people in this world , get used to it…..

  • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

    Crystal McKinley

    says:

    My post wasn’t finished West.
    You think your village is being burned today. What happened in the past was an atrocity no doubt. I shake my head at Hollywood depiction. Anyone with any sense knows that history is written by the victors. But we aren’t buying your bullshit. Take sometime to come up with some new insults before you reply. The old ones are boring, ridiculous and just as fictional as my shamans license I could never afford. Why would I need one anyway.
    Tell us about yourself West. What is a typical day for such an angry NDN? Where did you research each one of us? My complete name is posted. I have nothing to hide. My last name was given to me by my stepfather who raised me. I can’t back up my genealogy. Ironically my history has been handed down orally as well. I would take the DNA test but first of all I can’t afford it, second I know the blood can’t make me anything I’m not already, third, if I tested with the “proper” amount what would that I title me to. I don’t want anything from anybody. Most who do that do it to be untitled to government money. That money should go to the ones who need it.
    We are all here on this continent now. The past can’t be changed. Focus your energy to serve your people in a positive way in the here and now. There are no more wagons to burn.

    • Avatar for West

      West

      says:

      Oh, so our white Aunt Twinke came along with our Uncle Frank Vanilla Wafer today in the same soccer van to tell us how to be good NDNs and preach your sermon to convert us to being in the civilized Pretendian tribe, LOL. I guess the tourist bus broke down again and you’re still out here wandering around the rez following the directions we gave you last night. LMAO, hahahaha.

      WHy don’t you go back to that fort you were hanging around where they passed out your Wannabe tribal ID cards and your smudge sticks and Dances with Wolves DVDs so you could learn how to “imitate” us as a “form of flattery”? ‘Cause we’ve all heard this story about how your great great great grandma and how you don’t know anything about your imaginary NDN heritage other than what you make up in your fantasy like that bird on your role model’s head who also has no records or DNA to back it up. Just like your pilgrim ancestors, you come on our land and start picking fights with real NDNs who aren’t even talking to you, start hassling us personally, making up your imaginary crap about us “channeling demons” and think you’re gonna tell us how to be NDNs when you’ve never been to a rez and never had anything but a tourist brochure to tell you about that drop of blood you think you have. You’ve never sen an “angry NDN” because you’ve never met a real one, they don’t have any at ‘The Secret” Center for Crystal Healing, Meditation, and New Age Wannabe Indians. The only bullshit salesman around here is you, and we already used those bibles for firewood. The bus is pulling out, you better get back on it, Princess Land O Lakes.

      • Avatar for Frank

        Frank

        says:

        …sorry Bud, have to go……I can’t play with you anymore. Life calls.
        It’s been nice pullin your chain and seeing where your heart is….

        b.t.w….not everyone grew up in the same situation as you and not everyone grew up angry.

        You must have 50 or 60 ‘ WE’ in the previous few posts……didn’t know you were the spokesman for a group …voted in or self proclaimed …?

        There are a lot of different people out there and it is not as brown and white as you think…..

        Everbody PowWow !

      • Avatar for Frank

        Frank

        says:

        b.t.w….we’re going to have a naming ceremony for you….
        Your new name is ‘ Angry Bird’.

  • Avatar for West

    West

    says:

    “You poor dear”? Sorry, Aunt Twinkie, we don’t let condescending Salvation Army gospel-preachers pat us on the head and give us their little “Good Indian” doggy biscuits, we can go down and pick up our on commods if we want to swallow that crap you’re feeding us. Your imaginary “right-wing” friends didn’t teach me anything, I didn’t go to Indian School. I posted a comment that is pretty much what we all think every time you all walk up at the powwow and tell us how much you “admire” us and want to honor us by putting birds on your heads. It’s you twinks who can’t handle an NDN not shutting up and selling beads who can’t handle the truth and have so little respect for us that just like always, you have to post your lame replies personally trying to “convert” me and “save the Indian” because I don’t accept your smallpox blankets or your “honoring” us by pretending you’re us.

    “Grasshopper?” So now it’s grandpa Charlie Chan giving me advice how to run the rez. That’s OK, you’ve done enough, white man. You can take your Encyclopedia Brittanica history lesson about Turtle Island culture and put those back in that salesman presentatio, too, cuz we’re not buying anything today. We have Elders to tell us about our history. And you forgot the pages about Tatanka Iyotake and Tecumseh when you were telling us all about how to get inspired by and follow the example of black leaders, so unless you want to sell those books to the Oprah Winfrey Book Club, maybe you might sell more to NDNs if you mention one of our great warriors and leaders so you don’t look like such a Vanilla Twinkie. Thanks for the free bibles, but we don’t need any more of the “help civilizing” us you’ve done such a bang up job with so far, so you can put them back in the bag, too.

    Maybe when you stop quoting Jesus and Mandella and start quoting our leaders, you’ll learn something, like that we are taught to think 7 generations ahead, which maybe you ought to think about next time you dump some toxic waste from your hog farms and oil refineries onto our lands and oceans. So I know what I do lasts way longer than 100 years. You FAIL big time.

    And you ought to know all about fantasy, because that’s what all you Pretendians and twinks are living in. We aren’t flattered by you making us one of yours. That’s what Halloween is for. And the same person who dressed you up for that is the one who put a bird and jail bar white paint on Johnny Depp’s head. All Hollywood movies are fantasies, just like the original Lone Ranger. They’re WHITE MAN fantasies, just like John Wayne movies. We have our own fantasies, it’s called all of you getting back in the boat and taking your arrogant attitudes, stereotypes, and so-called “civilization” and disease with you.
    But we’re not gonna see that movie made any time soon. Not while a native can’t even get a job playing freaking Tonto because they only spend $250,000 on Indians with birds on their heads looking exactly like they do in the “fantasy” picture “I am Crow” Jack Sparrow stole that Halloween costuume from painted by a white man named Kirby Sattler who likes to throw all his new age shaman “spiritual” inspiration images of his fanatasy Indians that never existed all together like a little girl playing dress up. Kind of like your other poser twink friends wear to every powwow trying to “honor” us like Bruckheiner did in the cannibal scene in Pirates. Your fantasies, our stereotypes. Your heroes, our enemies. Get Helena Bonham Carter to play The Lone Ranger if you want a fantasy. Get Johnny Depp to play Diana Ross if he wants to be in drag all day. You’re obviously a total douche with your same old Euro-centric attitude trivializing native concerns you have no understanding of whatsoever. Why can’t we just sut up and remain invisible and have our picture taken like in your tourist brochure? Why do those silly NDNs expect to be treated like human beings and have ourselves represented by us? Why can’t we just stay on the thought reservation where we belong? Your bus is pulling out.

    • Avatar for Frank

      Frank

      says:

      OK dearie…
      You are so confused and angry over your life that you slash out at anything in no order or logic….so….I will try and answer your babbling the best I can. First: you won’t listen or try to understand anything and whatever I say you will disregard….agree ….?
      So….I am not a twink and I am not a wannabe.
      Your blindness shows itself.
      I am not a preacher but you have barely confronted any points I brought up. Your ignorance shows itself.
      If you read my entry you would realize that I agree with you…but not your attitude and,
      Your anger shows itself.
      I don’t mind a real NDN speaking out….it would just be nice to have one that could express his point of view without being a total asshol.
      The reason why so many dislike you and your redneck prejudism is obvious, and shows itself.
      Your right-wing friends have taught you everything. You are a product of their hate and ignorance. You belch out all that they have pumped into you with their vile treatment of the real ndn’s…..Just look at yourself !!!!! You could be some poor backward redneck in Alabama or Texas….just change the coloring and a few words and you are exactly what you are fighting against. A spitting image of a redneck white *&^%……just a little browner……
      Good point about Tecumseh……….perhaps your elders should have told you a great deal more about what he did and how he did it. Method is everything.
      I haven’t walked up to anyone at any PowWow and admired or honoured anyone like you….( I hope )….I would never honour such hate and ignorance.
      Your lack of self-worth is showing itself in the form of imaginary self flattery.
      Sorry ndn….not interested in pig farms or Halloween, conversion or John Wayne….which sort of proves you know little of who and what I am .
      Your babbling fantasy shows itself.
      You attack for the sake of attack without knowing who you are attacking ! You think you know who and what I am but you don’t and you just fire back without knowing at what…..you stupidity shows itself.
      It would be so nice to hear from a logical ndn who could express his point of view without being a total &^%$*&.
      Johnny Depp is the logical choice over warped Brownies such as yourself.
      Go JD GO ! PLEASE keep the stereotype of Native man away from the likes of this idiot. It would set back the clock 200 years and they would try to assimilate us again if they thought all ndn’s were all like west. Good God, ( or should I say ‘Good Tecumseh’, if it came down to it and a choice….please let good ol bird head be the shining sample and not west.
      Perhaps a tour bus operator would be more your line of work ????

      • Avatar for West

        West

        says:

        “Ok, dearie”

        “You are so confused and angry over your life that you slash out at anything in no order or logic….so….I will try and answer your babbling the best I can. First: you won’t listen or try to understand anything and whatever I say you will disregard….agree ….?”

        Skip the autobiographical section and the treaty negotiations LOLOL and get on with it, Uncle Frank, we’re missing The Lone Ranger and we really want to see it cuz it’s the only real NDN they ever put on TV. LMAOLMAO

        “So….I am not a twink and I am not a wannabe.”

        I guess the Bookmobile never dropped of your NDN dictionaries when they dropped off those Encylopedia Brits you got your history lesson out of you were so gracious to give us last time about our own ancestors, so maybe you’ll have to go door to door like the Census Bureau and ask if there’s any NDNs home who can tell you what “twink” and “wannabe” mean and show you the illustration they have next to the definition which would be a picture of you and your little Pretendian tribe who showed up on http://www.powwows.com as soon as they put a picture of another Pretendian, Johnny Depp, up with a bird on his head that they’ll all be calling their traditional ceremonial regalia passed down from their GGGGGGgrandma Cherokee princess at the next powwow, hahahahaha. Go on…

        “I am not a preacher but you have barely confronted any points I brought up. Your ignorance shows itself.
        If you read my entry you would realize that I agree with you…but not your attitude and,
        Your anger shows itself.”

        Wow, if you’re not a preacher, you’re doing a damn good imitation of one. You ought to be an actor, you’re even better at playing a preacher than JD is at playing an Indian.LMAO

        “The reason why so many dislike you and your redneck prejudism is obvious, and shows itself.
        Your right-wing friends have taught you everything.”

        Sorry, Bubba, you’re in the wrong trailer park, I think you’re looking for your redneck cousins you seem to be just a little too familiar with down in the White Trash Hills trailer park where you had your christian ministry rez outreach and meeting. I don’t see any NDNs coming on here disagreeing with each other, we all pretty much feel the same about you preacher wannabe tourists coming on our land and websites and talking that hypocritical patronizing crap as if we give a shit what some pasty albino twink thinks. That’s why we burned your wagon train down last time, pilgrim, so you may want to pack up your Racial Profiling kit you borrowed from George Zimmerman, cuz it doesn’t look like it’s working any better than his did, and go back to the family reunion if you’re looking for a date with a redneck. LOL

        “Good point about Tecumseh……….perhaps your elders should have told you a great deal more”

        Thanks for the Twink 101 lesson, but we remember pretty well what Tecumseh said about illegal aliens with an attitude problem like you showing us how “civilized” you are, and how we need to change to talk with forks in our tongues, when Tecumseh didn’t trust any of you mangy fleabitten liars either and had the right idea to wipe your sorry asses off this land and came close to doing it. And none of you have changed. Gee, considering we’ve been racially profiled from being redskins to rednecks, we should consider it a compliment,huh? We sure can spell good for being redskins AND rednecks, I wonder how that works, maybe we burn down our own villages and then send smoke signals from them.
        ROTFLMAO

        “I haven’t walked up to anyone at any PowWow and admired or honoured anyone like you”

        I have no doubt of that. The closest thing you’ve been to a real NDN is Calija.

        “which sort of proves you know little of who and what I am .”

        You don’t know shit about NDNs other than what that bird on JDs head told you in a crack vision, so you can quit coming on our websites any time and telling us your bullcrap about ourselves. There’s a reason you would never walk up to me at a powwow, because you’d get your pasty ass kicked if you started your little twink storytelling festival at my booth and wouldn’t shut up. Just like your cowboy friends, you come onto our land and start trouble picking fights with us, then wonder why you end up with a flaming arrow through your window. The you stand there yapping about what “savages” we are. Buy some jewelry or get back on the bus, skinwalking wasichu crow-head.

        “It would be so nice to hear from a logical ndn who could express his point of view without being a total asshol.
        Johnny Depp is the logical choice over warped Brownies such as yourself.”

        The logical NDNs would have just slashed your tires and made your face look permanently like Tonto’s about the time you called us “brownies” on http://www.powwows.com, stereotypical racist white asshole. Of course you’re gay for a white boy like yourself to play a stereotypical role written, directed, and produced by total white assholes like yourself because you’re too much of a puss to handle anything but a “spiritual warrior,” ghostdick. Yes, please let a white boy be the shining example of how to be an NDN so posers like Uncle Frank can get it up without having to use Viagra by looking at their fantasy noble savages in drag.

        “It would set back the clock 200 years and they would try to assimilate us again if they thought all ndn’s were all like west. Good God, ( or should I say ‘Good Tecumseh’”

        I think your clock’s been set on blinking 0000 since that John Wayne movie got stuck in it in 1950, Woman’s Dress. And we don’t worship Tecumseh or Crazy Horse or tatankas, either, so you can save your lame “Good Tecumseh” jokes for Disney, I’m sure they’ll use them. Especially since they were written by some skinwalker as white as JD’s makeup.

        Thanks for visiting the rez, Uncle Twink, you better get back in that tour bus before some skins not as logical as me burn it down.

    • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

      Crystal McKinley

      says:

      West, I agree with you about NA actors and who should portray and ndn in movies. i also agree about the stereotypes, I too, want to see it turned around on those who created them. That would be definately worth seeing. I don’t know how true it is but I heard that the catch phrase of Tonto in the original show was actually a slur instead of the accepted meaning “friend”. I’ve laughed about that several times myself. to your knowledge, what is the actual meaning of and from what language is the word from or was it made up by Hollywood? If you want the record straight about these issues try being factual and not so angry. i promise you, many of the ignorant are searching for the truth.
      You mentioned Tecumseh, the lack of a quote from him. Maybe a white man made this up but I like the idea.

      Live your life that the fear of death can never enter your heart.
      Trouble no one about his religion.
      Respect others in their views and demand that they respect yours.
      Love your life, perfect your life, beautify all things in your life.
      Seek to make your life long and of service to your people.
      Prepare a noble death song for the day when you go over the great divide.
      Always give a word or sign of salute when meeting or passing a friend,
      or even a stranger, if in a lonely place.
      Show respect to all people, but grovel to none.
      When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light,
      for your life, for your strength.
      Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.
      If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself.
      Abuse no one and no thing, for abuse turns the wise ones to fools
      and robs the spirit of its vision.
      When your time comes to die,
      be not like those whose hearts are filled with fear of death,
      so that when their time comes they weep and pray for a little more time
      to live their lives over again in a different way.
      Sing your death song, and die like a hero going home.”
      ~ Tecumseh

  • Avatar for Frank

    Frank

    says:

    To author ‘West’
    1st point: – You poor dear ! You are displaying the same prejudice and ignorance that the right wing White USA guys have taught you. They instilled this hatred in you and your only response is to strike back, however mis-directed. You have learnt well from them grasshopper ! You are now as ignorant, blind and prejudiced as they are.You have become twinky-minded !
    The Canadian Native is so far ahead since they did not have the same amount of abuse and hatred heaped upon them for as long as the Southern Natives had….( but they had their fair share of genocide as well….), But you can see evidence in their structure and Culture today as opposed to the US Native.
    The United Snakes Assholes sure did a job on you, yes, but why continue ?
    Martin Luther King Jr didn’t fight their abuse with hatred and anger…Nelson Madella didn’t fight their abuse with the same mentality as their oppressors. You want things to change …??? then you can’t use the same tactics that were used on you. Change History or be a part of the problem you are arguing about.
    There is so much to be done on the Rez, with Education, with Business with breaking the cycle rather than becoming mentally in-sync with the cycle. Take all the help you can get . The first step in changing peoples minds is for them to change their outlook on what they are seeing, hence, if the so called ‘twinkles’ want to try and understand and appreciate the Native Culture don’t try and kill their compassion or empathy.
    Eventually they, and even you, will deal in a ‘I’m a human being’ concept rather than seeing deficiencies.
    You have many good points, but, there’s a song by the Blues Travellers…..’ and it won’t mean a thing in a hundred years….’… so what will you do that will stay for 100 years ?

    2nd point……. The Lone Ranger and Tonto is a FANTASY !!!!!! It is not real !
    Why didn’t they get a mentally handicapped person to do JD role as the Mad Hatter in ‘Alice in Wonderland ?’
    Why didn’t they get an historically correct Pirate for the Caribbean series ?
    How about an amputee for Edward Sissor-hands ?
    BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL FANTASY !!!!!!!!
    Was your first thought when you saw ‘Pirates’ was ‘ Gee….I wannabe one of them !!!!! ‘
    Maybe when we were 8 years old…..but not now….Time to Man up.
    Change your world and stop putting useless energy into things that just won’t be here for much longer, such as prejudice and ignorance and hatred carried over from the 1800’s…..No need to be twinky-minded any more.

  • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

    Crystal McKinley

    says:

    West has issues that have nothing to do with being ndn. Short of “channeling” a demon, I can’t think of any reason he feels he needs to attack. My white ancestry doesn’t define me anymore than my Cherokee and Choctaw. News flash West. You can’t define me either. My soul defines me.
    I loathe prejudice no matter the source. I’ve never been on a tourist bus and I AM who I want to be.

    • Avatar for West

      West

      says:

      News flash: If you’re native, your DNA and family history and tribal affiliation defines you, not your “soul” or your”totem” or your “Indian in a past life” or your Mountain Man rendezvous outfit. But then, if you’re a Mormon or a wannabe, you can pretend anything you want, like that we’re descended from Jews even though the DNA says otherwise. That’s why most of you posers don’t get a test. That way you can disregard your “Caucasian” birth certificate and the fact that you have no connection to native culture whatsoever and listen to your “heart” and what the shaman in the sweatlodge with the bird on his head told you.

    • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

      Crystal McKinley

      says:

      Wow West! You have a very active imagination. You don’t know anything about my genealogy. I’ve never told an ndn how to live. I never claimed a silly notion that blood could tell me anything. I’ve never given out diseased blankets.My information does come from real NDNs. And I try to the best of my ability to correct those who believe the stereotypical image of the NDN. I admit when I don’t know something.
      You are trying to live in the past. You think those things were done to you by

  • Avatar for Gischileu

    Gischileu

    says:

    So, I’m 100% white, best I know (my grandfather did claim a Mohican princess, but there’s no basis) – but I admire and would like to support Indian culture. So, short of “getting back on the tourist bus” – I would like a serious reply on how I can express my admiration and support without offending.

    • Avatar for West

      West

      says:

      You can start by signing over the deed to your land.

  • Avatar for West

    West

    says:

    Oh and Princess Lie-yah, BTW JD’s geneaology’s pretty documented and there’s no record of a native, just a black slave from Africa named Elizabeth Key. So unless he wants to get a DNA test to find that drop of Cherokee blood, all he’ll see when he looks at a family album to see his “heritage” is Oprah Winfrey. LOL

    • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

      Crystal McKinley

      says:

      Your representation is very negative. Perhaps you should Practice your heritage.
      I am who I am. As others have told you. We do not need your approval.
      Why do you feel so threatened that you attack those who walk the path to enlightenment?

      • Avatar for West

        West

        says:

        “As others have told me” LMAO. Yeah, the other Nabisco Twinkies spokesman that got off the tourist bus through Navajolands with you looking for the shaman workshop LOLOLOL said the same thing. Unfortunatley we don’t pay too much attention to people whose Indian name is Vanilla Wafer ever since you walked that “path of enlightenment” into that sweat lodge in Sedona. LMAO. Keep “practicing” that “heritage” until you learn not to smoke the pipe from the wrong end, White Buffalo Wolf Eagle Woman, the rest of us have got it down, thanks.

  • Avatar for Dolores Smith

    Dolores Smith

    says:

    West, That is exactly what I was talking about, those who can prove their heritage( though you don`t need to) being snobish about it. Belittleing another person does not make you bigger or better,but it does make you a small person & not a good representative of your people. I`m proud of N.A blood & I`m “NOT” a wantabe And I don`t need your permission to be what I am. All I need do is to look into my mirror when I want to see my Grandmother & her ancestors. I do genealogy & can prove my heritage but I don`t “NEED” to. Have a nice day.

    • Avatar for West

      West

      says:

      Spoken like a true Wannabe. Got any more of them Vanilla Twinkies, ’cause I need one to get the energy up to pose like a good cigar store Indian when you take my picture so you can see what a real NDN looks like. I don’t need to look at a picture of your great grandma Cherokee princess to see what my heritage is. I can look in the mirror. Now take that plastic dreamcatcher and Maiden with Wolf t shirt and get off my rez. LOL

  • Avatar for West

    West

    says:

    As a major Johnny Depp fan and an NDN, as opposed to the inevitable and SO easily spotted “I have native ancestry” WANNABE posers who SURPRISE SURPRISE have shown up in the comments like they do at every powwow telling me all about their fullblood Cherokee/Blackfoot/Lakota great great grandma, yet who never have any clue about the pulse and real spirit of the natives and our perceptions today, I am glad someone is telling it like it is. It’s always the Vanilla Twnkies who love to claim their Pretendian tribe “blood” who have the typical Euro attitude of pooh-poohing and chiding any REAL rez skin who is sick of the stereotypes and racism and points it out. That’s because they have no real connection to our cultures, but only appropriate the title they give themselves for the convenience of making a supposed point supporting their agenda of trivializing our concerns. Every native who lives the culture will understand why putting a bird on it is not gonna make it fly.Especially a bird on top of a costume they stole off a make-believe portrait by Kirby Sattler, a WHITE man who admits he just kind of throws together random “spiritual” and “shamanic” items like a little girl playing dress-up in Mom’s closet, to — you guessed it — “HONOR” natives. PUHLEASE.I would LOVE for JD to be as “Cherokee or Creek” as his family myth “guesses” he is, because he’s so cool and “savvy” and brilliant. But the reality is that, unless he wants to get a DNA test, he has no geneology to support that, is the word in NDN circles who’ve researched it. I hope JD can prove that wrong, but it doesn’t look that way. 1 percent of white people in this country have NDN DNA, and those that do have a TINY bit, so those family myths are just that. And if you have no background of your family being really a part of the culture today, yes, it is racist for someone to play an already stereotypical role who is not native, for obvious reasons. Anyone who doesn’t understand that doesn’t get why Washington Redskins is insulting, either. I had hoped JD would play this in a cool way that turned the jokes on the white man and gave some dignity back to “Tonto,” but unless they have a damn good explanation scriptwise, I cannot see this as being anything other than another slap in the face invitation for rednecks to haul out their racial slurs they hung up finally after John Wayne died. White people and all you wannabes with “native” ancestry (right) who say it doesn’t matter if a native plays a native role do NOT get why it’s an insult that the most famous “native” was Iron Eyes Cody in a litter commerical. An Italian. You don’t get it because of what we’re talking about here. There are TONS of fantastic native actors. But Hollywood WANTS them to be invisible because they have an agnda to present an altered reality that suits the Eurocentric arrogant view that keeps people able to go on blogs and actually criticize us on our own land as mere annoyances when we object to being yet another mascot in a white game. It is as important that it stop this demeaning treatment as they get rid of L’il Black Sambo and blackface. And though Johnny means well, to say he wants to “fix” it by taking the role that a rez NDN actor enculturated could have made better than just a drag show is missing the point. Why do we need a guy with maybe some undefined blood and no embedding into his long-lost “heritage” to represent natives? Get it? Because Hollywood considers natives as fictional of characters still as Tonto. You’re brilliant, Johnny, but give me Denzel as Malcom X.

  • Avatar for Yazzie

    Yazzie

    says:

    Robert Downey Jr, played a black man in tropic thunder and did a pretty daym good job..haha. He isn’t black, but white and completely far from the stereotypical black man and played it very well. Depp is a very talented actor, just as good as downey, if not better. I think they picked a great actor for the part and this is coming 100% pure native. haha…good day.

  • Avatar for Chevy_truckin_NDN

    Chevy_truckin_NDN

    says:

    To answer the questions:
    How do you think Depp portrayal of a Native American will be?

    Good Lord, we aren’t really depending on him to protray actually indians in a ficitonal series are we?

    Do you think this will be another stereotypical Cowyboys and Indians movie?

    Yes.

    Or has Hollywood changed its view of Natives?

    Never have and never will.

    LOL I’m sorry, but I think he is a good actor. He has a great many movies that hit big and the only reason he took this part is

    a.) He wanted to play this part to the exclusion of all others or

    b.) The money was really good.

    I’ll reserve all other judgements until it comes out…

    And why is it we wanted a real indian to play a fictional indian?

    ~A.

  • Avatar for darci

    darci

    says:

    Thank you Frank for explaining that to me because I wasn’t sure, it just looked like they perched a crow on his head and it was not part of a headdress. It will be interesting to see how this movie turns out. Thanks again

  • Avatar for Frank

    Frank

    says:

    The answer to the Crow starts with the identity of the tribe Tonto is from.
    Is that generally Apache or Hopi or …what, that his dress is from ?
    There are several types of regalia with animal head-dresses. It is not unusual to see Owls, or Coyote etc as a head-dress….so….is the crow also taken from a traditional regalia ? If we knew Tonto’s tribe , or at least which tribe inspired Depp then we would know if it was a traditional thing or a Depp thing.

  • Avatar for Darcie

    Darcie

    says:

    Johnny Depp is a big box office draw as well as a great actor, but I would have liked to see Adam Beach or Jay Tavare as Tonto. I hope that he portrays Tonto with dignity and strength not making him look inept or stupid. I know it depends on the writers but hopefully Depp will have some input. My only question is why does he have a crow sitting on his head?

    • Avatar for Angela

      Angela

      says:

      Adam Beach is yummy

  • Avatar for LINDA ROY

    LINDA ROY

    says:

    I THINK JOHNNY DEPP IS A GREAT ACTOR & WILL DO A GREAT JOB OF PORTRAYING TONTO IN THIS MOVIE. I HEARD HE IS NA SO IT SEEMS RIGHT THAT HE PLAY THAT ROLE. I THINK IT WILL BE A GREAT MOVIE I CAN’T WAIT TO SEE IT. THIS IS JUST MY OPINION.

  • Avatar for Frank

    Frank

    says:

    …maybe…for the sake of reality and stereotypes Jack Sparrow should have been cast with a Spanish guy…Darth Vader should have been an Alien…and Borat should have been a Gay , Yaskstastad guy! Come on people !…. It’s fantasy !!! Whatever happened to ‘…quality of their character and not by the color of their skin.’…???

  • Avatar for pipet

    pipet

    says:

    I heard all the ndn turned it down, graham green, adam beach the wolf pack. this is such a sad thing, for all that money remakes are not always good, you can’t duplicate the good ones.

  • Avatar for McDreg

    McDreg

    says:

    The headline for this story said “Long Ranger”. Unless that is a typo the movie sounds like it will be a western farce.
    If that is the case Depp might excel if he portrays a character in a manner of the Caribean pirate. Whether that excuses fair portrayal of an NA is subject for further discussion.

  • Avatar for SarahS

    SarahS

    says:

    Perhaps just as important as is he NA, how much, what tribe, or his skills as an actor is the question of how will he portray his character. What will this add to or subtract from the ongoing work of reclaiming the honor and respect that so many have been striving for so long now. I wonder if the crow perched on the head may say it all.

  • Avatar for Crystal McKinley

    Crystal McKinley

    says:

    A man by the name of Charles Caleb Colton is attributed with the phrase ‘Imitation is the best form of flattery’.
    My birth certificate says I’m Caucasian. My heart says I’m proud of my 😉 great grandmother as well as my Choctaw ancestry however distant. So yes, I’m a wanabe. Maybe that’s not such a bad thing.

  • Avatar for Mill

    Mill

    says:

    Yeah his grEat great great great grEat grandma Indian princess

  • Avatar for Frank

    Frank

    says:

    Depp is ‘THE’ consummate Actor. His attention to detail and accurate portrayals are 2nd to no-one….and with the respect he has for his profession and no doubt for himself and his History , it is difficult for me to fathom just how fantastic this portrait will be. Just as Jack Sparrow seems to be a real live Pirate gone-by, so will Tonto take on a new and real personification.
    Go Depp Go !

  • Avatar for jesse

    jesse

    says:

    adam beach,graham greene,m grayeyes etc..these are real natives..box office natives..come on …reach out and lets do it with them okay..

  • Avatar for Sandy

    Sandy

    says:

    In his day, great actor Will Sampson (Poltergeist II, One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, and more)worked so hard to change Hollywood’s stereotypical portrayal of Indians. Yes, there are Indians who would have been great for this part, but for the studio it comes down to the Box Office – it’s all $$. And Depp, regardless of race, is a $$ draw, and ‘guaranteed’ return on their investment.

    • Avatar for Patricia VanNoy

      Patricia VanNoy

      says:

      Your comment is true. l believe Natives should be played by Natives because maybe than they would become well known and bring in the $$$ too. Although I don’t believe a true Native would do it for that reason, but to get the truth more well known of what the Whites & this country has done to them. The moviemakers care the most about $$$$ and not the reality. “WALK THE RED ROAD.” “O Great Spirit, help me never judge another until I have walked two weeks in his moccasins” by Edwin Laughing Fox. Forgive me, Creator.

  • Avatar for wepunkwteme

    wepunkwteme

    says:

    Give me a break! … Just another Non-NDN playing Indian … Hollywood hasn’t changed …

    • Avatar for Cherokee71

      Cherokee71

      says:

      Johnny Depp IS TSALAGI !!!

    • Avatar for Misty

      Misty

      says:

      I think this is an insult to the Native American community. Johnny Depp does not fit this role. Good actor certainly does not equal good for the part. We study Native American Films at SDSU and nothing has changed for sure!

  • Avatar for Iyami

    Iyami

    says:

    Oops that’s Depp. But…he is deep!

  • Avatar for Iyami

    Iyami

    says:

    Johnny Deep is Native, via his grandmother.

  • Avatar for Cynthia

    Cynthia

    says:

    Johnny Depp is Native through his grandmother.

    • Avatar for lamuel

      lamuel

      says:

      DO You what kind of native jonhy depp is

      • Avatar for West

        West

        says:

        He’s a member of the Pretendian Tribe. That’s a band of white people who’s grandpas raped slaves from Africa and they were too ashamed to be “proud” of that like suddenly they are “proud” of being “Cherokee.” Be proud of whoever you are, it’s beautiful, but only 1% of whites have any native blood, and that’s only a tiny amount. The rest are fantasizing. If you have no real connection to your family or tribe or records other than the family myth and you really want to go around posing as “I have native ancestry” then research it or get a DNA test so you can know. Since Johnny’s family history is so documented and shows no natives, only 9th generation blacks, he needs to SAY that and get a DNA test so he can tell the truth, not just repeat an unsupported family myth to justify playing Tonto when lots of native actors could have done it. Same goes for the rest of you posers. If it means that much to you and you have nothing but a story that’s probably false like that poser Churchill professor, get the DNA test, and if you have none, get back on the tourist bus and take those feathers off.

  • Avatar for Don S.

    Don S.

    says:

    There are plenty of NAs around Horrorwood. How come they don’t try find one. There are also some great movies in the last 10 years with real Indians.

    • Avatar for Gischileu

      Gischileu

      says:

      Depp is a great actor but I agree with Don. It’s not necessary when there are so many fine NA actors.

      • Avatar for Gischileu

        Gischileu

        says:

        Seems he is part Cherokee, so an excellent choice.

      • Avatar for West

        West

        says:

        Johnny’s ancestry is well-documented and it’s online for all to see, and there is an African slave ancestor named Elizabeth Key, but no natives. If he wants to come up with some more stories from his family to explain who this mythical Cherokee great grandma is or some DNA, that would be a better idea than Hollywood coninuing to claim it just to justify him having a bird on his head that Jack Sparrow stole off a fantasy new age painting by a white man, Kirby Sattler, that no NDN ever wore.

    • Avatar for Deborah Hill

      Deborah Hill

      says:

      I liked the Guy who played Ikseebachee’ or Nobody in the Movie Dead Man which also Starred Johnny Depp.. It was a great movie in black and white..and the acting and cinematography were great! Depp is a Chameleon, he changes into his characters, literally becomes them when he is acting.

      • Avatar for PETR JAKIMIV

        PETR JAKIMIV

        says:

        THAT GUY “NOBODY” WAS ACTOR GARY FARMER.(KAJUGA TRIBE)…”DEAD MAN” IS My FAVOURITE MOVIE….

    • Avatar for Cherokee71

      Cherokee71

      says:

      Depp IS TSALAGI !!!

      • Avatar for Patricia VanNoy

        Patricia VanNoy

        says:

        How are you sure of that?

    • Avatar for Shawn

      Shawn

      says:

      Depp has surmised that he is part Native American, saying in 2011, “I guess I have some Native American [in me] somewhere down the line. My great-grandmother was quite a bit of Native American, she grew up Cherokee or maybe Creek Indian. Makes sense in terms of coming from Kentucky, which is rife with Cherokee and Creek. SO HOW MUCH IS A BIT OF NATIVE AMERICAN? ALSO IF YOUR CLAIMING YOUR NA WOULDN’T YOU KNOW WHAT TRIBE YOUR FAMLIY IS FROM? WOULD HAVE LIKE TO SEE SOME ONE ELSE, SO I KNOW IS NA AND NOT PASSING OFF AS ONE.

      • Avatar for Dolores Smith

        Dolores Smith

        says:

        Not everyone is lucky enough to know all of their own history, But what we Do know we are proud of, I don`t have to have some card to tell me what my blood knows is true. And I don`t apreciate Those that do looking down their noses at those of us that don`t& calling us wantabes. Sure I know there are some that are out to take what they can get by being N A, but not all are ! I`m proud of my ancestors & when I want to see them I look in the mirror. Thank you for your time, P.S I think the Lone Ranger is too silly anyway & no one will pay any attention to who plays what part.

    • Avatar for Angela

      Angela

      says:

      Name some NA actors

  • Avatar for bearcat

    bearcat

    says:

    I read that Depp’s portayal of Tonto was supposed to attract younger moviegoers to the Western genre …

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