Spike Lee is pushing back on President Donald Trump’s claim that the director’s Oscar speech was a “racist hit” aimed at the president.
“Well, it’s okey-dokey, you know. They change the narrative,” Lee told Entertainment Weekly on Monday.
“They did the same thing with the African-American players who were kneeling, trying to make it into an anti-American thing, an anti-patriotic thing, and an anti-military thing. But no one’s going for that.”
In his speech Sunday night after winning his first Oscar, the BlackKlansman director encouraged all the viewers to think with their heads in the upcoming presidential election in 2020.
“Let’s all mobilize. Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing!” he said without mentioning any names.
That didn’t stop the president from taking to Twitter to disparage Lee’s win.
Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!
“Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President,” he wrote, “who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!”
In his acceptance speech, Lee also paid tribute to his late grandmother who lived to be 100 years young. The director noted that she was also a Spelman College graduate even though her mother was a slave.
“My grandma who saved 50 years of social security checks to put her first grandchild – she called me Spikie Poo – she put me through Morehouse College and NYU film [school]. I give praise to my ancestors who helped build this country,” he said Sunday night.
