Oscar-winning director responds to the president’s claim that his acceptance speech was ‘a racist hit’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Spike Lee has addressed Donald Trump’s claim that his Oscars acceptance speech was a “racist hit” aimed at the president.

When Lee won his first Oscar on Sunday night, he used his speech to attempt to mobilise the crowd ahead of the 2020 elections, saying: “Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing!”

Donald Trump accuses Spike Lee of 'racist hit on your president' Read more

Although he mentioned no one by name, Trump was swift to retaliate on Twitter, saying:

“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!”

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly about the social media retort, Lee said: “Well, it’s okee-doke, you know. They change the narrative.

“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.”

Lee’s victory, in the best adapted screenplay category for BlacKkKlansman, was one of the key moments of Sunday night’s ceremony. After leaping into the arms of presenter Samuel L Jackson, he paid tribute to his late grandmother, “Zimmie Shelton Reatha, who lived to be 100 years young, who was 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 Grad Film.”

Lee seemed to speak for many present when he later declared himself dissatisfied with the best picture victory for Green Book.