'Reservation Dogs' star D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai wears red palm print on face to spotlight violence against Indigenous women

Sept. 16 (UPI) -- Reservation Dogs Emmy nominee D'Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai made a bold statement by wearing a red painted over his mouth at the Emmy Awards ceremony Los Angeles Sunday night.

The mark on the 22-year-old actor's face was intended to raise awareness for missing and murdered Indigenous women.

"We just find that there is a really big epidemic in the United States and Canada where our sisters, our relatives, our two-spirited relatives are going missing at an alarming rate and a lot of people are doing nothing about it," he told GoldDerby.com on the Emmys red carpet.

"This is what the red palm print represents shutting a woman up and the red represents violence and death."

Woon-A-Tai, who also wore a black tuxedo for the event, played Native teen Bear for three seasons on the FX comedy created by Sterlin Harjo and Taika Waititi.

Woon-A-Tai was the first Indigenous actor to be nominated for Best Actor in a Comedy.

He lost out to Jeremy Allen White from The Bear.