Spike Lee is hitting back at Donald Trump by moving on and mostly ignoring him. Trump spent the morning after the Oscars criticizing Lee for making a dig at him while accepting the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, but Lee tells Entertainment Weekly he won’t let the president make an anti-American narrative out of his Oscar speech.
“Well, it’s okee-doke, you know,” Lee said when asked about Trump’s criticism. “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.”
While accepting his Oscar, Lee encouraged viewers to “do the right thing” in the upcoming 2020 election. The director did not name Trump, but it was clear he was stumping for the Democrats. “When we regain our humanity it will be a powerful moment,” Lee said. “The 2020 election is around the corner – let’s all mobilize and be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate.”
Trump blasted the director’s comment, writing on social media, “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!”
Lee is not getting caught up on Trump’s criticism. The director posted on Instagram that he’s already gearing up to shoot his next movie, “Da 5 Bloods.” With his “BlacKkKlansman” awards season now a thing of the past, Lee is heading off to Thailand for two months to shoot his next project. “Da 5 Bloods” stars Chadwick Boseman in the story of Vietnam War veterans who return to the jungle and relive their loss of innocence. Netflix is backing “Da 5 Bloods.”
