Talk:Iron Eyes Cody

Reference to movie Sitting Bull?

Sitting Bull (film) cites Iron Eyes Cody as an actor. Should that be included in the filmography here?Treethinker (talk) 01:39, 11 September 2011 (UTC)

Question of Native American-ness

Didn't it ultimately come to light that this person was not, in fact, a Native American? If he was, this article could use some fleshing out re: his heritage.

No, he was a Cherokee.

Hey, you guys, sign your stuff. Anyway, it appears from http://www.snopes.com/movies/actors/ironeyes.htm that he was not a Native American until he decided to become one early in his adulthood, and he never looked back. That is worthy of respect and has precedents. Hmmm. ;Bear 19:06, 2004 Jul 20 (UTC)

Does it deserve enough respect to list him in the Native American actors category? I don't know enough to advise one way or the other, but it seems odd that I don't see anyone discussing the issue here or at the category discussion.--superluser_tc 03:24, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Birthyear

The birth date given at the top of the article and the birth year category don't match. Which one is right? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 77.64.176.214 (talk) 01:22, 19 February 2007 (UTC).

Changed back in October 2006 with no source given. I'm changing it back. -- nae'blis 21:09, 23 April 2007 (UTC)

in popular culture

That he comes up so much in popular culture is significant. I'd love to get that list back in, but you're right, there should be citations. Kingturtle (talk) 19:13, 28 March 2008 (UTC)

Removal of link

Why should the official video link be removed? I don't understand why an official link to the official site should be removed while someone who wants hits on google video should stay. --blm07 01:19, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

The video of the commercial he is in should stay, and it has not been removed. Promotional sites for KAB should be in the KAB article, not in this one. Kingturtle (talk) 02:23, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

The KAB link DID have the video. --blm07 03:55, 7 June 2008 (UTC)

Should be listed as a Native American regardless of genetic ancestry.

The man lived and died as a Native American for godssake! If he lived and died as a Native American and was accepted as such by his tribe, then he has every right to be listed as a Native American just as people of only Hindu ancestry have every right to consider themselves, and be grouped on Wikipedia as, English. The Mummy (talk) 21:23, 9 November 2009 (UTC)

I agree. "Identity" is not defined purely in genetic terms. I have also removed the "Fraudster" category, since claiming a different ethnic heritage does not qualify as either civil or criminal fraud. --Bookgrrl ^holler/lookee here 01:37, 23 February 2010 (UTC)

You are confusing heritage and religion. We "Native Americans" don't decide one day to switch from being Ojibway to being Cree. You are born Ojibway. It's a culture, not a religion. Iron Eyes Cody was Italian, period. Whether or not he was accepted by a community doesn't change the fact that he's Italian. We accept many non-native people's into our communities but that does NOT allow them to call themselves Indians. He should NOT be listed as one. Just because you like our culture or think it's cool, doesn't give you a free pass to assimilate our culture and use it to benefit yourself as he so clearly did. Who would have hired him as an Italian actor? He obviously benefitted greatly from claiming a fake heritage so he also deserves to be labelled a fraud as obtaining financial gain through misrepresentation of ones race is a clear cut case of fraud, regardless of whether an action was started or not. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 216.209.249.27 (talk) 15:19, 4 March 2010 (UTC)

Alleged 'fraudster', then possibly, though there would need to be some sourcing for the allegation - perhaps by those who believe they were 'injured' by his actions? Labeling him as such in the article seems to require that there are 3rd party sources that describe him as this.