The controversy began when Dylan O'Brien admitted on 'Live! With Kelly and Michael' that he and other actors stole artifacts from an ancient Indian burial ground while filming in Albuquerque.
- October 6, 2015
AceShowbiz -
More than 23,000 people have signed an online petition demanding the cast of "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials" to apologize and return stolen Native American artifacts from an ancient Indian burial ground in Albuquerque, where the movie was filmed. The Care2 petition comes after Dylan O'Brien admitted on "Live! With Kelly and Michael" that he and other actors stole the artifacts.
The petition read, "In a disturbing interview on Live with Kelly & Michael, Dylan O'Brien admits that cast members of his film 'Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials' ignored instructions about filming on a Native American site and stole ancient Pueblo artifacts from a filming location outside Albuquerque. The Native Americans from that area, the Pueblo people, have spoken out, angered and disrespected."
"While O'Brien plays it for laughs, talking about bringing a Native American curse on the cast, his flip treatment of the crew's actions is outrageous," the petition continued, "O'Brien, the film's director, and other crew members involved need to apologize to Pueblo tribal leaders for their behavior and return any artifacts they removed from the site."
Dylan previously told Kelly Ripa and Michael Strahan about filming a part of the "The Maze Runner" sequel at an ancient Indian burial ground. "It hadn't been used for filming ever before ... They gave us this big speech when we got there to shoot, and they said, 'Don't take anything. Respect the grounds,' " he shared, "They were very strict about littering and don't take any artifacts like rocks, skulls - anything like that. And everyone just takes stuff, you know, obviously."
He went on to mention that five actors fell ill a week after leaving the site, jokingly alluding to the idea that a Native American curse had punished them for it.
