John Wayne's racist and homophobic comments from 1971 Playboy interview resurfaces

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An old interview of late American screen legend John Wayne, who ruled the screen for three decades with his classic westerns such as "The Searchers" and "True Grit", has resurfaced where the actor had laid bare his racist and homophobic views.

The movie star was interview by Playboy's Richard Warren Lewis in 1971, where he shared his views on topics such as diversity in Hollywood, slavery and American history.

The excerpts of the interview were first posted on Twitter by Tennessee-based screenwriter Matt Williams. The thread went viral on Twitter, generating thousands of responses.

During the interview, Wayne, a revered figure in Hollywood, was asked about professor and civil rights activist Angela Davis
To this, Wayne said, "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 the blacks."
Posting an except from Wayne's interview, actor Patton Oswalt tweeted, "'If it's supposed to be a black character, naturally I use a black actor' was as 'woke' as John Wayne got, I guess."