John Wayne's son on Saturday defended his father amid calls to remove the actor's name from a California airport following the resurfacing of an interview Wayne gave decades ago.

Ethan Wayne, the son, said during an interview on CNN's "Smerconish" that it "would be an injustice to judge someone based on an interview that's being used out of context."

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Wayne called for others to consider the "full picture" of his father's life.

"They're trying to contradict how he lived his life, and how he lived his life was who he was," he said. "So, any discussion of removing his name from the airport should include the full picture of the life of John Wayne and not be based on a single outlier interview from half a century ago."

Some have called for the John Wayne Airport in Southern California to be renamed after a recent Los Angeles Times opinion piece resurfaced an interview Wayne gave with Playboy in 1971.

Wayne said in the interview that he believes in white supremacy "until the blacks are educated to a point of responsibility."

"We can't all of a sudden get down on our knees and turn everything over to the leadership of the 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 judgment to irresponsible people," he said.

Wayne also said during the interview that black people should take "tests" to prove that they are "sufficiently equipped" to attend college.

He also made disparaging remarks during the interview about gay people and Native Americans, using a homophobic slur to refer to gay people and saying that Native Americans "were selfishly trying to keep (the U.S.) for themselves."