President Donald Trump on Monday lashed out at Spike Lee after the “BlackKklansman” director took indirect aim at the president during his Oscar acceptance speech at Sunday’s 91st Academy Awards.
“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!,” Trump tweeted.
The Trump tweet came just minutes after a “Fox & Friends” segment mentioning Lee’s Oscars moment, calling on voters to “mobilize” ahead of the 2020 election.
Lee snagged the first competitive Oscar win in his long career for his adapted screenplay for the drama “BlackKklansman.” He ended his acceptance speech with a pointed shot at Trump, urging those watching to vote him out of office.
“The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. Let’s all mobilize. Let’s all be on the right side of history,” Lee said, making no mention of Trump by name. “Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there.”
Lee was referring to his 1989 movie “Do the Right Thing!” which lost the Best Picture Oscar to “Driving Miss Daisy.” Despite the screenplay win on Sunday, Lee similarly lost out on in the Best Director and Best Picture categories, which went to “Roma” director Alfonso Cuarón and “Green Book,” respectively.
In his speech, Lee also noted that his win came in February, “which also happens to be the shortest month of the year, which also happens to be Black History month.”
And he described how he and his ancestors had worked to overcome the legacy of slavery in the U.S. “Our ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa and bought to Jamestown, Virginia, enslaved. Our ancestors worked the land from can’t see in the morning to can’t see at night,” he said.
“My grandmother, Zimmie Shelton Retha, who lived to be 100 years young, who was a Spelman College graduate even though her mother was a slave,” he said. “My grandmother 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.”
“Before the world tonight, I give praise to our ancestors who have built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of its native people,” he said. “We all connect with our ancestors. We will have love and wisdom regained, we will regain our humanity.”
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