Boots Riley, the writer-director of Sorry to Bother You, attacked Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman Friday in a three-page essay on Twitter.

BlacKkKlansman is based on the true story of African-American police detective Ron Stallworth infiltrating a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

But Riley calls the film a “made up story” that fails to paint an accurate picture of police brutality and racism in America.

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Riley starts out by saying Lee has been a “huge influence,” and is the reason he went to film school. Then he begins to criticize BlacKkKlansman.

“It’s a made up story in which the false parts of it to [sic] try to make a cop the protagonist in the fight against racist oppression. It’s being put while Black Lives Matter is a discussion, and this is not coincidental. There is a viewpoint behind it,” he says in his essay.

Ok. Here's are some thoughts on #Blackkklansman. Contains spoilers, so don't read it if you haven't seen it and you don't wanna spoil it. pic.twitter.com/PKfnePrFGy — Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) August 17, 2018

Riley justifies his criticism of a fellow African-American director by saying Lee “never held his tongue about what he thought of Tyler Perry films.”

In a follow-up tweet, Riley brings up news reports from earlier this week saying Lee was paid $219,000 by the NYPD in 2016, to work as a consultant on a promotional campaign to improve relations between the department and minority communities.

“Dammit. Spike was paid over $200k ‘by NYPD’. I left that out of the end,” Riley tweeted.

Dammit. Spike was paid over $200k "by NYPD". I left that out of the end. — Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) August 17, 2018

Riley is a rapper, screenwriter, director and self-described communist from Oakland.

In a May article, he told The New York Times he hopes “to help build a mass movement that can use withholding of labor as a strategy for social change.”

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His directorial debut, Sorry to Bother You, focuses on labor inequality in Oakland and was nominated for a Grand Jury Prize earlier this year at the Sundance Film Festival. The surrealistic comedy opened on July 6, and has been praised by critics.

BlacKkKlansman, which addresses hate groups and police brutality, picked up the Grand Prix award in May at the Cannes Film Festival. The drama arrived in theaters on Aug. 10, and has been applauded by critics as the “perfect movie for the perfect time.”

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