There are calls for John Wayne Airport to be renamed amid unease over a series of racist and homophobic remarks attributed to The Quiet Man star.
Democrats in Orange County are calling for the film legend's name, statue and other likenesses to be removed from Santa Ana airport.
Movements have been made over the past number of weeks due to a number of unearthed “racist and bigoted statements” allegedly made by the actor.
The star, whose real name is Marion Robert Morrison, has been labelled as a white supremacist by Orange County officials who have passed an emergency resolution condemning Wayne.
“There have been past efforts to get this done and now we're putting our name and our backing into this to make sure there is a name change,” said Ada Briceño, chair of the Democratic Party of Orange County.
According to those behind the calls for The Quiet Man star’s name to be removed, the campaign is part of “a national movement to remove white supremacist symbols and names reshaping American institutions, monuments, businesses, nonprofits, sports leagues and teams”.
The resolution insisted that the USA is a much more diverse place than it was when the airport was named after John Wayne in 1979.
It has now called on the Orange County Board of Supervisors to drop his name and statue and to “restore its original name: Orange County Airport”.
It comes after a1971 interview with Playboy has been unearthed where the late Hollywood actor said he didn’t feel guilty about slavery.
John also accused Native Americans of “selfishly trying to keep” land for themselves.
The star insisted: “Our so-called stealing of this country from them was just a matter of survival.
“There were great numbers of people who needed new land, and the Indians were selfishly trying to keep it for themselves.”
The True Grit icon also stated: “With a lot of blacks, there’s quite a bit of resentment along with their dissent, and possibly rightfully so. But we can’t all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of blacks.
“I believe in white supremacy until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility.
“I don’t believe in giving authority and positions of leadership and judgement to irresponsible people,” he continued.
The actor started his film career in 1929 and was given the stage name John Wayne in his first starring role in 1930's The Big Trail.
John Wayne passed away in June 1979 after a short battle with cancer.
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