Spike Lee won his first competitive Oscar for his adapted screenplay for the drama “BlackKklansman.”
Spike Lee also described how his ancestors had worked hard to overcome the history of slavery in the United States. “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.”
He ended his acceptance speech by urging Americans to vote him out of office and referencing his “Do The Right Thing!”, which lost the best picture to “Driving Miss Daisy”.
“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.”
Donald Trump did not appreciate Spike Lee’s 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.
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