Who would have thought that leftist filmmaker Spike Lee, a man who stares “daggers” at interracial couples on the street, is a sore loser who nearly stormed out of the Dolby Theatre like a spoiled brat the moment “Green Book” was announced Best Picture.
According to Variety, “BlacKkKlansman” director Spike Lee not only used his acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay to give a divisive political message in which he urged America to “do the right thing” by voting Democrat in 2020 (ironically, the party of the Ku Klux Klan), he also got visibly furious and unruly to the point of running for the exit sign upon “Green Book” winning Best Picture.
“After presenter Julia Roberts announced ‘Green Book‘ as Best Picture, AP reporter Andrew Dalton was one of several journalists who noticed Lee wave his arms in anger before storming out of the theater,” reports Variety. “However, before he could leave, he was stopped at the doors and was forced to return to his seat once the speeches had stopped.”
Speaking with reporters backstage, the director said he felt “snakebit” by his movie losing to “Green Book.”
“I’m snakebit. Every time someone’s driving somebody, I lose,” Spike Lee told reporters. “I thought I was courtside at the Garden and the refs made a bad call.”
Spike Lee was referencing the Best Picture win of “Driving Miss Daisy” in 1990, a year that multiple Hollywood insiders believe he was snubbed of a Best Director nomination for “Do the Right Thing.”
Jordan Peele, a producer on “BlacKkKlansman,” was also visibly upset by the win and “reportedly didn’t clap” at the announcement along with other members of the “BlacKkKlansman” team.
During his acceptance speech for Best Adapted Screenplay, Spike Lee used the moment not to send an inspiring message, nor an uplifting message, nor a harmonious message, but a shallow political message about the 2020 presidential election.
“The 2020 presidential election is around the corner,” said Lee. “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!”
President Trump ripped Lee on Twitter for his “racist hit,” mocking the director for being barely able to read his notes.
“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!” he wrote.
Leading up to the Oscars, Lee played the race card at every opportunity to pressure Academy members for more votes. Just last week, he lamented at the Icon Mann Gala about how “black folks win Oscars every 10 years.”
“Has Hollywood discovered black people?” Lee said of the questions he receives every year. “And then it would be a nine-year drought. So we don’t know what’s going to happen next year. There’s a lot of people who have been nominated, especially the filmmakers, and are they going to have a film next year?”
For this drought to end, Lee called for more black gatekeepers in the industry.
“Gatekeepers decide what films they’re making and what films they’re not making, and if we’re not in the room we don’t got a voice. If we’re not in the room it can be a drought, a feast to famine,” Lee said. “We want this to be a continuation where we get our work out, we show it to the world and we demonstrate that black folks are not one monolithic group. We look different, think different, talk different, dress different.”