Spike Lee#Controversy

{{Infobox person

| name = Spike Lee

| image = Spike Lee Headshot.jpg

| caption = Lee in 2024

| birth_name = Shelton Jackson Lee

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1957|3|20}}

| birth_place = Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.

| education = Morehouse College (BA)
New York University (MFA)

| occupation = {{hlist|Director|producer|writer|actor}}

| works = Filmography

| years_active = 1977–present

| boards = 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks

| spouse = {{marriage|Tonya Lewis|1993}}

| children = 2

| father = Bill Lee

| relatives = {{unbulleted list|Joie Lee (sister)|Cinqué Lee (brother)||David Lee (brother)|Malcolm D. Lee (cousin)}}

| awards = Full list

}}

Shelton Jackson "Spike" Lee (born March 20, 1957) is an American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and author. His work has continually explored race relations, issues within the black community, the role of media in contemporary life, urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. Lee has won numerous accolades for his work, including an Academy Award, two Primetime Emmy Awards, a BAFTA Award, and two Peabody Awards. He has also been honored with an Honorary BAFTA Award in 2002, an Honorary César in 2003, and the Academy Honorary Award in 2015.

His production company, 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, has produced more than 35 films since 1983. He made his directorial debut with She's Gotta Have It (1986). He has since written and directed such films as School Daze (1988), Do the Right Thing (1989), Mo' Better Blues (1990), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), Crooklyn (1994), Clockers (1995), 25th Hour (2002), Inside Man (2006), Chi-Raq (2015), BlacKkKlansman (2018), and Da 5 Bloods (2020). Lee also acted in eleven of his feature films. He is also known for directing numerous documentary projects including 4 Little Girls (1997), the HBO series When the Levees Broke (2006), the concert film American Utopia (2020), and NYC Epicenters 9/11→2021½ (2021).

His films have featured breakthrough performances from actors such as Denzel Washington, Laurence Fishburne, Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Delroy Lindo, and John David Washington. Lee's films Do the Right Thing, Bamboozled, Malcolm X, 4 Little Girls, and She's Gotta Have It were each selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".{{Cite web|url=http://www.cnn.com/SHOWBIZ/Movies/9911/16/natl.film.registry/|title=CNN - U.S. film registry adds 25 new titles - November 16, 1999|website=www.cnn.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.philasun.com/entertainment/spike-lees-malcolm-x-among-25-film-registry-picks/|title=Spike Lee's 'Malcolm X' among 25 film registry picks|date=January 3, 2011}}{{cite magazine |last=Chow |first=Andrew R. |date=December 11, 2019 |title=See the 25 New Additions to the National Film Registry, From Purple Rain to Clerks |url=https://time.com/5747503/national-film-registry-2019-additions/ |magazine=Time |location=New York, NY |access-date=December 11, 2019}} He has received a Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center as well as the Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize.{{cite news |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-24158700 |title=Spike Lee wins $300,000 Gish Prize |work=BBC News |access-date= April 30, 2014}}{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-spike-lee-awarded-gish-prize-20130918,0,5323916.story#axzz30OykLTfs |title=Spike Lee awarded $300,000 Gish Prize |newspaper=Los Angeles Times |access-date= April 30, 2014}}

Early life and education

Shelton Jackson Lee was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Jacqueline Carroll ({{née}} Shelton), a teacher of arts and black literature, and William James Edwards Lee III, a jazz musician and composer. Lee has five younger siblings, three of whom (Joie, David, and Cinqué) have worked in many different positions in Lee's films; a fourth, Christopher, died in 2014.{{cite web |first=Megan |last=Saad |date= January 3, 2014 |url=https://www.vibe.com/news/movies-tv/spike-lees-brother-passes-away-55-200876/ |work=Vibe |title= Spike Lee's Brother Passes Away At 55|access-date= May 25, 2023}} His youngest sibling is half-brother Arnold. Director Malcolm D. Lee is his cousin. When he was a child, the family moved from Atlanta to Brooklyn, New York. His mother nicknamed him "Spike" during his childhood. He attended John Dewey High School in Brooklyn's Gravesend neighborhood.

Lee enrolled in Morehouse College, a historically black college in Atlanta, where he made his first student film, Last Hustle in Brooklyn. He took film courses at Clark Atlanta University and graduated with a B.A. in mass communication from Morehouse. He did graduate work at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, where he earned a Master of Fine Arts in film and television.{{cite news |url=http://www.morehouse.edu/about/boardbios/slee.html |publisher=Morehouse College |title=SHELTON "SPIKE" LEE '79 |date=April 9, 2012 |access-date=April 9, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120506002442/https://www.morehouse.edu/about/boardbios/slee.html |archive-date=May 6, 2012}}

=David Lee=

David Lee (born February 16, 1961), a younger brother of Spike, is a still photographer,{{cite web |url=http://www.raquelwilson.com/portfolio/no-jheri-curls-no-drugs-a-david-lee-photo-exhibit/ |title=No Jheri Curls & No Drugs: A David Lee Photo Exhibit |last=Wilson |first=Raquel |publisher=raquelwilson.com |year=2009 |accessdate=September 15, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170408224259/http://www.raquelwilson.com/portfolio/no-jheri-curls-no-drugs-a-david-lee-photo-exhibit/ |archive-date=April 8, 2017 |url-status=dead }} and has done the still photography for all of his older brother's feature films before 2013 with the exception of Get on the Bus and He Got Game. Other films he has done still photography for include The Preacher's Wife, The Best Man, Pollock, Made, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, and American Gangster, and the television series The Wire.

Career

= 1980s =

In 1983, Lee premiered his first independent short film titled, Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads. Lee submitted the film as his master's degree thesis at the Tisch School of the Arts.{{cite web|url=http://spectrumculture.com/2012/03/oeuvre-spike-lee-joes-bed-stuy-barbershop-we-cut-heads.html/ |title=Oeuvre: Spike Lee: Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads |publisher=Spectrum Culture |date=March 15, 2012 |access-date=December 24, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120317165601/http://spectrumculture.com/2012/03/oeuvre-spike-lee-joes-bed-stuy-barbershop-we-cut-heads.html/ |archive-date=March 17, 2012 }} Lee's classmates Ang Lee and Ernest R. Dickerson worked on the film as assistant director and cinematographer, respectively. The film was the first student film to be showcased in Lincoln Center's New Directors New Films Festival. Lee's father, Bill Lee, composed the score. The film won a Student Academy Award.

File:Spike Lee.jpg

In 1985, Lee began work on his first feature film, She's Gotta Have It. The black-and-white film concerns a young woman (played by Tracy Camilla Johns) who is seeing three men, and the feelings this arrangement provokes. The film was Lee's first feature-length film, and launched Lee's career. Lee wrote, directed, produced, starred and edited the film with a budget of $175,000, he shot the film in two weeks. When the film was released in 1986, it grossed over $7 million at the U.S. box office.{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=shesgottahaveit.htm |title=She's Gotta Have It (1986) |website=Box Office Mojo |date=August 26, 1986 |access-date=June 13, 2011}} New York Times film critic A.O. Scott wrote that the film "ushered in (along with Jim Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise) the American independent film movement of the 1980s. It was also a groundbreaking film for African-American filmmakers and a welcome change in the representation of blacks in American cinema, depicting men and women of color not as pimps and whores, but as intelligent, upscale urbanites."{{cite news| url=http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/44229/She-s-Gotta-Have-It/overview | first=A. O. | last=Scott | title=She's Gotta Have It | access-date=August 7, 2020 | url-status=dead | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071027102646/http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/44229/She-s-Gotta-Have-It/overview | department=Movies & TV Dept. | work=The New York Times | author-link=A. O. Scott | date=2007 | archive-date=October 27, 2007}} He followed this with the musical drama School Daze (1988).{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=School Daze movie review & film summary (1988) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/school-daze-1988 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}}

In 1989, Lee made perhaps his most seminal film, Do the Right Thing, which focused on a Brooklyn neighborhood's simmering racial tension on a hot summer day. The film's cast included Lee, Danny Aiello, Bill Nunn, Ossie Davis, Ruby Dee, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, John Turturro, Martin Lawrence and Samuel L. Jackson. The film gained critical acclaim as one of the best films of the year from film critics including both Gene Siskel and Roger Ebert who ranked the film as the best of 1989, and later in their top 10 films of the decade ({{Numero|6}} for Siskel and {{Numero|4}} for Ebert).{{cite web|url= https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XjYS8EUakgs |title= Siskel & Ebert 1989-Best of 1989 (2of2) |publisher= YouTube |date= December 17, 2010 |access-date= April 29, 2015}} Ebert later added the film to his list of The Great Movies.{{cite web|url=http://www.rogerebert.com/great-movies/ |title= The Great Movies |author= Roger Ebert |publisher= rogerebert.com |access-date= April 29, 2015}}

To many people's surprise, the film was not nominated for Best Picture or Best Director at the Academy Awards. The film only earned two Academy Award nominations for Best Original Screenplay, Spike Lee's first Oscar nomination, and for Best Supporting Actor for Danny Aiello. At the Academy ceremony Kim Basinger, who was a presenter that evening, stated that Do the Right Thing also deserved a Best Picture nomination stating, "We've got five great films here, and they are great for one reason, because they tell the truth, but there is one film missing from this list because ironically it might tell the biggest truth of all and that's Do the Right Thing".{{cite news |title=Kim Basinger Rips Academy for Snubbing Spike Lee's Film |work=Jet |issue=27 |publisher=Ebony Media Operations |date=April 16, 1990}} The film that did win Best Picture was Driving Miss Daisy, a film that focused on race relations between an elderly Jewish woman (Jessica Tandy) and her driver (Morgan Freeman).{{Cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/hollywood-flashback-a-snubbed-spike-lee-trashed-wim-wenders-at-cannes-1989-1111408/|title=Hollywood Flashback: A Snubbed Spike Lee Trashed Wim Wenders at Cannes in 1989|first1=Bill|last1=Higgins|website=The Hollywood Reporter|date=May 12, 2018}} Lee said in an April 7, 2006, interview with New York magazine that the other film's success, which he thought was based on safe stereotypes, hurt him more than if his film had not been nominated for an award.{{cite web |last=Hill |first=Logan |url=http://nymag.com/anniversary/40th/culture/45772/ |title=Q&A with Spike Lee on Making 'Do the Right Thing' |work=New York |date=April 7, 2008 |access-date=June 13, 2011}}

= 1990s =

File:Spike Lee 1.jpg]]

In 1990, Lee had his first collaboration with Denzel Washington in Mo' Better Blues. After the release of Mo' Better Blues, Lee was accused of antisemitism by the Anti-Defamation League and several film critics. They criticized the characters of the club owners Josh and Moe Flatbush, described as "Shylocks". Lee denied the charge, explaining that he wrote those characters in order to depict how black artists struggled against exploitation. Lee said that Lew Wasserman, Sidney Sheinberg, or Tom Pollock, the Jewish heads of MCA and Universal Studios, were unlikely to allow antisemitic content in a film they produced. He said he could not make an antisemitic film because Jews run Hollywood, and "that's a fact".{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1990/08/16/movies/critic-s-notebook-spike-lee-s-jews-passage-benign-cliche-into-bigotry.html |title=Spike Lee's Jews and the Passage from Benign Cliche into Bigotry |last=James |first=Caryn |work=The New York Times |date=August 16, 1990 |access-date=December 1, 2009}} His next film was Jungle Fever (1991), for which Samuel L. Jackson won acclaim for his performance as a crack addict.{{Cite news |last=Freedman |first=Samuel G. |date=1991-06-02 |title=FILM; Love and Hate in Black and White |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1991/06/02/movies/film-love-and-hate-in-black-and-white.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}

In 1992, Spike released his biographical epic film Malcolm X based on the Autobiography of Malcolm X, starring Denzel Washington as the famed civil rights leader. The film dramatizes key events in Malcolm X's life: his criminal career, his incarceration, his conversion to Islam, his ministry as a member of the Nation of Islam and his later falling out with the organization, his marriage to Betty X, his pilgrimage to Mecca and reevaluation of his views concerning whites, and his assassination on February 21, 1965. Defining childhood incidents, including his father's death, his mother's mental illness, and his experiences with racism are dramatized in flashbacks. The film received widespread critical acclaim including from critic Roger Ebert ranked the film No. 1 on his Top 10 list for 1992 and described the film as "one of the great screen biographies, celebrating the sweep of an American life that bottomed out in prison before its hero reinvented himself."{{cite news|last=Ebert|first=Roger|title=The Best 10 Movies of 1992|url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/19921231/COMMENTARY/40308026/1023|work=rogerebert.com|access-date=March 15, 2011|date=December 31, 1992}} Ebert and Martin Scorsese, who was sitting in for late At the Movies co-host Gene Siskel, both ranked Malcolm X among the ten best films of the 1990s.{{cite web|url=http://www.combustiblecelluloid.com/bestof90s.shtml|title=The Best Films of the 1990s|access-date=June 21, 2010|last=Anderson|first=Jeffrey M.|publisher=Combustible Celluloid }} Denzel Washington's portrayal of Malcolm X in particular was widely praised and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Washington lost to Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman), a decision which Lee criticized, saying "I'm not the only one who thinks Denzel was robbed on that one."{{cite web|author=DVDTalk.com|url=http://www.dvdtalk.com/interviews/spike_lee_on_ma.html|title=Spike Lee on Malcolm X|publisher=Dvdtalk.com|access-date=July 18, 2010}}

{{external media

|video1 = [https://www.c-span.org/video/?76013-1/black-genius Presentation by Lee at the New York University's Black Genius series, October 18, 1996], C-SPAN

}}

He followed Malcolm X with Crooklyn (1994),{{Cite web |last=Marx |first=Andy |date=1993-03-04 |title=Lee gets a go for 'Crooklyn' |url=https://variety.com/1993/film/news/lee-gets-a-go-for-crooklyn-104551/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Variety |language=en-US}} Clockers (1995),{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Clockers movie review & film summary (1995) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/clockers-1995 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}} and Girl 6 and Get on the Bus (both 1996).{{Cite news |last=Maslin |first=Janet |date=1996-03-22 |title=FILM REVIEW;Finding a Career in Telephone Sex |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1996/03/22/movies/film-review-finding-a-career-in-telephone-sex.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}{{Cite web |last=Brennan |first=Judy |date=1996-10-16 |title=The 'Bus' Stopped Here |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1996-10-16-ca-54227-story.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Los Angeles Times |language=en-US}} His 1997 documentary 4 Little Girls, about the girls killed in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963, was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Feature Documentary.{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1998|title=The 70th Academy Awards | 1998|website=Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=October 5, 2014 }} In 2017, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".{{cite web |url=https://www.loc.gov/item/prn-17-178/ |title=2017 National Film Registry Is More Than a 'Field of Dreams' |publisher=Library of Congress |access-date=December 13, 2017}} He had his third collaboration with Denzel Washington on the sports drama He Got Game (1998).{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=He Got Game movie review & film summary (1998) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/he-got-game-1998 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}} He followed this with Summer of Sam (1999),{{Cite web |title=Summer of Sam |url=https://ew.com/article/1999/04/19/summer-sam/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=EW.com |language=en}} based on the Son of Sam murders.

= 2000s =

File:Spike Lee at the 2009 Tribeca Film Festival.jpg]]

In 2000, Lee directed Bamboozled (2000),{{Cite news |last=Holden |first=Stephen |date=2000-10-06 |title=FILM REVIEW; Trying On Blackface in a Flirtation With Fire |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/06/movies/film-review-trying-on-blackface-in-a-flirtation-with-fire.html |access-date=2025-02-10 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}} a satire about a modern televised minstrel show. He followed this with 25th Hour (2002) starring Edward Norton and Philip Seymour Hoffman which opened to positive reviews, with several critics since having named it one of the best films of its decade. Film critic Roger Ebert added the film to his "Great Movies" list on December 16, 2009.{{cite news |title=25th Hour Review |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20091216/REVIEWS08/912169990/1004 |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=December 16, 2009 |access-date=July 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100322193930/http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=%2F20091216%2FREVIEWS08%2F912169990%2F1004 |archive-date=March 22, 2010 |url-status=dead }} A. O. Scott,{{cite news |title=A. O. Scott's Ten Best Films of the 2000s |first=Brian |last=Dunn |author-link=A.O. Scott |url=http://www.bpdreview.com/2009/12/michael-phillips-and-o-scotts-ten-best.html |date=December 26, 2009 |access-date=November 29, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110319052251/http://www.bpdreview.com/2009/12/michael-phillips-and-o-scotts-ten-best.html |archive-date=March 19, 2011 |url-status=dead}} Richard Roeper{{cite news |title=Roeper's best films of the decade |first=Richard |last=Roeper |author-link=Richard Roeper |url=http://www.suntimes.com/news/roeper/1967980,roepers-best-films-of-the-year-010110.article |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=January 1, 2010 |access-date=July 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100421214649/http://www.suntimes.com/news/roeper/1967980,roepers-best-films-of-the-year-010110.article |archive-date=April 21, 2010 |url-status=dead }} and Roger Ebert all put it on their "best films of the decade" lists.{{cite news|title=The best films of the decade |first=Roger |last=Ebert |author-link=Roger Ebert |url=http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/12/the_best_films_of_the_decade.html |newspaper=Chicago Sun-Times |date=December 30, 2009 |access-date=July 11, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100528130622/http://blogs.suntimes.com/ebert/2009/12/the_best_films_of_the_decade.html |archive-date=May 28, 2010 |url-status=dead}} It was later named the 26th greatest film since 2000 in a BBC poll of 177 critics.{{cite web |url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20160819-the-21st-centurys-100-greatest-films |title=The 21st Century's 100 greatest films |publisher=BBC |date=August 23, 2016 |access-date=October 14, 2016}} The film was also a financial success earning almost $24 million against a $5 million budget.{{cite web |url=http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id=25thhour.htm |title=25th Hour (2002) |work=Box Office Mojo |access-date=June 18, 2013}} He followed 25th Hour with She Hate Me (2004), which received negative reviews.{{Cite web |last=Ebert |first=Roger |title=Much to hate, plenty to love in 'She Hate Me' movie review (2004) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/she-hate-me-2004 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}}

In 2006, Lee directed Inside Man starring Denzel Washington, Jodie Foster, Clive Owen, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Willem Dafoe and Christopher Plummer. The film was an unusual film for Lee considering it was a studio heist thriller. The film was a critical and financial success earning $186 million off a $45 million budget. Empire gave the film four stars out of five, concluding, "It's certainly a Spike Lee film, but no Spike Lee Joint. Still, he's delivered a pacy, vigorous and frequently masterful take on a well-worn genre. Thanks to some slick lens work and a cast on cracking form, Lee proves (perhaps above all to himself?) that playing it straight is not always a bad thing."{{cite web |url=http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=117338 |title=Empire's Inside Man Movie Review |work=Empire |publisher=Bauer Consumer Media |access-date=January 21, 2013 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130617111841/http://www.empireonline.com/reviews/review.asp?DVDID=117338 |archive-date=June 17, 2013 }}

On May 2, 2007, the 50th San Francisco International Film Festival honored Spike Lee with the San Francisco Film Society's Directing Award. In 2008, he received the Wexner Prize.{{cite web |url=http://www.wexarts.org/about/wexner_prize/spikelee/ |title="Spike Lee to Receive the Wexner Prize"; Wexner Center for the Arts |publisher=Wexarts.org |access-date=June 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110614222728/https://www.wexarts.org/about/wexner_prize/spikelee/ |archive-date=June 14, 2011}} The same year, Lee directed the World War II drama Miracle at St. Anna.{{cite web|title=Lee blasts Hollywood war mythology as Miracle at St. Anna debuts|url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/lee-blasts-hollywood-war-mythology-as-miracle-at-st-anna-debuts-1.764188|date=September 7, 2008|work=CBC News|accessdate=February 10, 2025}}

= 2010s =

In 2012, Lee directed Red Hook Summer, in which he reprised his role as Mookie from Do the Right Thing.{{Cite web |title=Coming of age in Brooklyn movie review (2012) {{!}} Roger Ebert |url=https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/red-hook-summer-2012 |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=www.rogerebert.com |language=en-US}} In 2013, Lee won The Dorothy and Lillian Gish Prize, one of the richest prizes in the American arts worth $300,000.{{cite web |author=Chris Lee |date=September 18, 2013 |title=Spike Lee awarded $300,000 Gish Prize |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/moviesnow/la-et-mn-spike-lee-awarded-gish-prize-20130918,0,5323916.story |access-date=September 19, 2013 |work=Los Angeles Times}} The same year, he directed Oldboy, a remake of the Park Chan-wook 2003 film, which was reportedly taken away from Lee in the editing room, leading him to remove his trademark "A Spike Lee Joint" credit for a more impersonal "A Spike Lee Film".{{cite news |author=Maane Khatchatourian |date=November 29, 2013 |title='Oldboy' Will Likely Be Trampled by New Releases in Thanksgiving Rush |work=Variety |url=https://variety.com/2013/film/news/spike-lees-oldboy-looking-like-a-big-fat-turkey-at-thanksgiving-b-o-1200892692/|access-date=August 4, 2016}} He followed this with Da Sweet Blood of Jesus (2014), which was primarily funded on Kickstarter.{{Cite web |last=Foundas |first=Scott |date=2014-06-23 |title=Film Review: 'Da Sweet Blood of Jesus' |url=https://variety.com/2014/film/reviews/film-review-spike-lees-da-sweet-blood-of-jesus-1201242049/ |access-date=2025-02-10 |website=Variety |language=en-US}}

In 2015, Lee received an Academy Honorary Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for his contributions to film.{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/news/spike-lee-debbie-reynolds-and-gena-rowlands-receive-academys-2015-governors-awards |title=Spike Lee, Debbie Reynolds And Gena Rowlands To Receive Academy's 2015 Governors Awards |date=August 27, 2015 }} Friends and frequent collaborators Wesley Snipes, Denzel Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson presented Lee with the award at the private Governors Awards ceremony.{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ntDXsajJnXI| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/ntDXsajJnXI| archive-date=October 28, 2021|title= Spike Lee receives an Honorary Award at the 2015 Governors Awards|website= YouTube| date=November 15, 2015|access-date= August 6, 2020}}{{cbignore}} Lee directed, wrote, and produced the MyCareer story mode in the video game NBA 2K16.{{cite web |title=Spike Lee Is Writing A Video Game Campaign |url=http://kotaku.com/spike-lee-is-writing-a-video-game-campaign-1709168903 |publisher=Kotaku |last=Plunkett |first=Luke |date=June 4, 2015|access-date=June 6, 2015}} Later that same year, after a perceived long dip in quality, Lee rebounded with a musical drama film, Chi-Raq. The film is a modern-day adaptation of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes set in modern-day Chicago's Southside and explores the challenges of race, sex, and violence in America. Teyonah Parris, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Cannon, Dave Chappelle, Wesley Snipes, John Cusack, and Samuel L. Jackson starred in the film. The film was released by Amazon Studios in select cities in November. Chi-Raq received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has rating of 82% with the site's critical consensus stating, "Chi-Raq is as urgently topical and satisfyingly ambitious as it is wildly uneven – and it contains some of Spike Lee's smartest, sharpest, and all-around entertaining late-period work."{{cite web |url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/chi_raq/ |title=Chi-Raq (2015) |work=Rotten Tomatoes |date=December 4, 2015 |access-date=August 6, 2020}}

File:Cannes 2018 14.jpg at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival]]

Lee's 2018 film BlacKkKlansman, a true crime drama set in the 1970s centered around the true story of a black police officer, Ron Stallworth, infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan. The film premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix and opened the following August.{{cite magazine|url=https://ew.com/movies/2018/05/19/cannes-2018-winners-spike-lee-blackkklansman-shoplifters/|title= Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman wins Grand Prix award from Cannes|magazine= Entertainment Weekly|access-date= August 6, 2020}} The film received near universal praise when it opened in North America receiving a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critics consensus reading, "BlacKkKlansman uses history to offer bitingly trenchant commentary on current events – and brings out some of Spike Lee's hardest-hitting work in decades along the way."{{cite web|url=https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/blackkklansman|title= Rotten Tomatoes – BLACKKKLANSMAN|website= Rotten Tomatoes|date= August 10, 2018|access-date= August 6, 2020}} In 2019, during the awards season leading up to the Academy Awards, Lee was invited to join a Directors Roundtable conversation run by The Hollywood Reporter. The roundtable included Ryan Coogler (Black Panther), Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite), Alfonso Cuarón (Roma), Marielle Heller (Can You Ever Forgive Me?), and Bradley Cooper (A Star is Born).{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/director-roundtable-spike-lee-bradley-cooper-ryan-coogler-more-1169111|title="Movies Fall Apart a Million Times": The Director Roundtable|website= The Hollywood Reporter|date=December 14, 2018|access-date= August 4, 2020}} It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director (Lee's first ever nomination in this category). Lee won his first competitive Academy Award in the category Best Adapted Screenplay.{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIzK9rFkTx0|title="BlacKkKlansman" wins Best Adapted Screenplay|date=March 25, 2019 |via=www.youtube.com}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/2019|title=The 91st Academy Awards | 2019|website=Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=April 15, 2019 }} When asked by journalists from the BBC if the Best Picture winner Green Book offended him, Lee replied, "Let me give you a British answer, it's not my cup of tea".{{cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QXd8vSbAFak| archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/QXd8vSbAFak| archive-date=October 28, 2021|title= Oscars 2019 Spike Lee says Green Book 'not my cup of tea'|website= YouTube| date=February 25, 2019|access-date= August 6, 2020}}{{cbignore}} Many journalists in the industry noted how the 2019 Oscars with BlacKkKlansman competing against eventual winner Green Book mirrored the 1989 Oscars with Lee's film Do the Right Thing missing out on a Best Picture nomination over the eventual winner Driving Miss Daisy.{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/spike-lee-reacts-green-books-oscars-win-1190271|title= Spike Lee on 'Green Book's' Controversial Oscars Best Picture Win|website= The Hollywood Reporter|date= February 24, 2019|access-date= August 6, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.thewrap.com/green-book-win-gives-spike-lee-driving-miss-daisy-deja-vu-ref-made-a-bad-call/|title= Spike Lee Gets 'Driving Miss Daisy' Deja Vu From 'Green Book' Win: 'Ref Made a Bad Call'|website= The Wrap|date= February 24, 2019|access-date= August 6, 2020}}{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/23/arts/green-book-interracial-friendship.html|title= Why Do the Oscars Keep Falling for Racial Reconciliation Fantasies?|website= The New York Times|date= January 23, 2019|access-date= August 6, 2020|last1= Morris|first1= Wesley}}

= 2020s =

Lee's Vietnam war film Da 5 Bloods was released on Netflix. The film starred Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Mélanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hauser and Chadwick Boseman.{{cite web |url=https://www.vulture.com/article/spike-lee-da-5-bloods.html |title=Spike Lee's Forever War: How the Vietnam War epic Da 5 Bloods became one of the most ambitious films of his career. |first=Lane |last=Brown |date=June 9, 2020 |access-date=June 10, 2020 |website=Vulture}} The film was released worldwide on June 12, 2020.{{cite web |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/features/da-5-bloods-spike-lee-challenges-his-new-project-1297668 |title=Spike Lee on the Challenge of Bringing Netflix's 'Da 5 Bloods' to the Screen |last=Keegan |first=Rebecca |work=The Hollywood Reporter|access-date=June 11, 2020 |date=June 11, 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://www.indiewire.com/2020/05/netflix-spike-lee-da-5-bloods-release-date-1202229868/ |title=Spike Lee's 'Da 5 Bloods' to Stream on Netflix in June, but It's Still Eligible for Oscars |date=May 7, 2020 |work=IndieWire |first=Zack |last=Sharf|access-date=June 11, 2020}} The film's plot follows a group of aging Vietnam War veterans who return to the country in search of the remains of their fallen squad leader, as well as the treasure they buried while serving there. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, the film was scheduled to premiere out-of-competition at the 2020 Cannes Film Festival, then play in theaters in May or June before streaming on Netflix.{{cite news| author = Josef Adalian| title = Breaking: The Wire's Michael K. "Omar" Williams Is Headed to Community| access-date = July 23, 2011| url = https://nymag.com/daily/entertainment/2011/07/the_wire_star_michael_k_willia.html | date=July 23, 2011}} The film received widespread critical acclaim; the website Rotten Tomatoes gave it an approval rating of 92% based on 252 reviews, with the critical consensus reading: "Fierce energy and ambition course through Da 5 Bloods, coming together to fuel one of Spike Lee's most urgent and impactful films."{{cite web|title=Da 5 Bloods (2020)|url= https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/da_5_bloods|website=Rotten Tomatoes|access-date=July 20, 2020}} On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 82 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "universal acclaim".{{cite web|title=Da 5 Bloods Reviews|url=https://www.metacritic.com/movie/da-5-bloods|website=Metacritic|access-date=July 20, 2020}}{{cite magazine |last=Schaffstall |first=Katherine |url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/da-5-bloods-review-roundup-what-critics-are-saying-1297852 |title='Da 5 Bloods': What the Critics Are Saying |magazine=The Hollywood Reporter |date=June 10, 2020 |access-date=June 11, 2020}}

Lee has been linked to a movie musical about the origin story of Viagra, Pfizer's erectile dysfunction drug.{{Cite web|last= Fleming|first=Mike Jr.|date=November 17, 2020|title=Spike Lee Sets eOne Film Musical On Pfizer's Pre-COVID Miracle Drug: Viagra|url=https://deadline.com/2020/11/spike-lee-viagra-musical-film-pfizer-eone-pre-covid-miracle-drug-kwame-kwei-armah-1234616563/|access-date=December 12, 2021|website=Deadline|language=en-US}} He signed a deal with Netflix to direct and produce more movies.{{Cite web|title=Spike Lee Signs Multiyear Film Deal with Netflix to Direct and Produce|date=December 16, 2021|url=https://www.thewrap.com/spike-lee-netflix-multiyear-film-deal/}} In February 2024, it was announced that Spike Lee was confirmed as the director of Highest 2 Lowest, a reinterpretation of High and Low (1963) originally directed by Akira Kurosawa, with Denzel Washington to star.{{cite web|url= https://www.indiewire.com/news/breaking-news/spike-lee-remake-akira-kurosawa-high-and-low-a24-1234952391/|title= Spike Lee and Denzel Washington Are Remaking Akira Kurosawa's 'High and Low' with Apple and A24|website= IndieWire|date= February 8, 2024|accessdate= February 9, 2024}}

Academic career and teaching

In 1991, Lee taught a course at Harvard about filmmaking. In 1993, he began to teach at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts in the Graduate Film Program. It was there that he received his master of fine arts. In 2002, he was appointed as artistic director of the school.{{cite web |url=https://tisch.nyu.edu/about/directory/grad-film/109468161 |title=Professor web page |website=NYU Tish Directory |publisher=NYU|access-date=November 25, 2015}} He is now a tenured professor at NYU.{{cite news |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/13/entertainment/spike-lee-creators/index.html |title=Spike Lee strives to be on the right side of history |author=Sandra Gonzalez |date=February 13, 2019}}

Commercials

In mid-1990, Levi's hired Lee to direct a series of TV commercials for their 501 button-fly jeans.Elliott, Stuart (July 22, 1991). [https://www.nytimes.com/1991/07/22/business/media-business-advertising-levi-spike-lee-return-button-your-fly-part-2.html "THE MEDIA BUSINESS: [sic] Advertising; Levi and Spike Lee Return In 'Button Your Fly' Part 2"]. The New York Times. Marketing executives from Nike{{cite web |url=http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_n29_v221/ai_19625060 |title=Kindred, Dave; "Mars points NBA to next Milky Way – advertising character Mars Blackmon"; findarticles.com; July 21, 1997 |date=July 21, 1997 |publisher=Findarticles.com|archive-url=https://archive.today/20120526220117/http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1208/is_n29_v221/ai_19625060|archive-date=May 26, 2012|url-status=dead|access-date=June 13, 2011}} offered Lee a job directing commercials for the company. They wanted to pair Lee's character, Mars Blackmon, who greatly admired athlete Michael Jordan, and Jordan in a marketing campaign for the Air Jordan line. Later, Lee was asked to comment on the phenomenon of violence related to inner-city youths trying to steal Air Jordans from other kids.{{Cite web |url=http://chucksconnection.com/articles/ConverseArt08.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060811202026/http://www.chucksconnection.com/articles/ConverseArt08.html|url-status=dead |title=Chucksconnection.com |archive-date=August 11, 2006}} He said that, rather than blaming manufacturers of apparel that gained popularity, "deal with the conditions that make a kid put so much importance on a pair of sneakers, a jacket and gold". Through the marketing wing of 40 Acres and a Mule, Lee has directed commercials for Converse,{{Cite news |url=http://www.adweek.com/brand-marketing/converse-splits-butler-88594/ |title=Converse Splits With Butler|access-date=February 15, 2018 |language=en-US}} Jaguar,{{Cite news |url=http://adage.com/article/news/jaguar-enlists-spike-lee-diversify-market/58590/ |title=Jaguar enlists Spike Lee to help diversify market|access-date=February 15, 2018 |language=en}} Taco Bell,{{Cite news |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1995-07-07-fi-21159-story.html |title=Basketball Stars Team Up for Taco Bell Ad Campaign : Marketing: Shaquille O'Neal and Hakeem Olajuwon go one-on-one in television commercials that follow up provocative teasers in several papers. |last=JOHNSON |first=GREG |date=July 7, 1995 |work=Los Angeles Times|access-date=February 15, 2018 |language=en-US |issn=0458-3035}} and Ben & Jerry's.{{Cite news |url=http://adage.com/article/news/ben-jerry-s-spike-smooth-ice-creams-big-ad-effort-boasts-a-social-conscience/87948/ |title=BEN & JERRY'S & SPIKE & SMOOTH ICE CREAMS' FIRST BIG AD EFFORT BOASTS A SOCIAL CONSCIENCE|access-date=February 15, 2018 |language=en}}

Artistic style and themes

File:SpikeLeeSept2011.jpg

Lee's films are typically referred to as "Spike Lee Joints". The closing credits always end with the phrases "By Any Means Necessary", "Ya Dig", and "Sho Nuff".{{cite web |title=Spike Lee Biography |url=https://movies.yahoo.com/movie/contributor/1800019419/bio|access-date=February 10, 2009 |publisher=Yahoo! Movies}} His 2013 film, Oldboy, used the traditional "A Spike Lee Film" credit after producers had it re-edited.

= Themes =

Lee's films have examined race relations,{{Cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/286-do-the-right-thing|title=Do the Right Thing|website=The Criterion Collection}} colorism in the black community, the role of media in contemporary life,{{Cite web|url=https://www.criterion.com/films/29007-bamboozled|title=Bamboozled|website=The Criterion Collection}} urban crime and poverty, and other political issues. His films are also noted for their unique stylistic elements, including the use of dolly shots to portray the characters "floating" through their surroundings, which he has had his cinematographers repeatedly use in his work.{{Cite web|url=https://www.ceros.com/inspire/originals/spike-lee-denzel-washington-movies-cinematography/|title=Spike Lee's Secret Weapon: The Double Dolly Shot|date=August 2, 2018}}

= Influences =

In 2018, during an interview with GQ, Lee cited some of his favorite films as Elia Kazan's On the Waterfront (1954) and A Face in the Crowd (1957), as well as Martin Scorsese's Mean Streets (1973). Lee says that he befriended Scorsese after attending a screening of After Hours at NYU.{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NfRMe-gnP6s&feature=emb_title | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/NfRMe-gnP6s| archive-date=October 28, 2021|title=Spike Lee Breaks Down His Film Heroes |website=GQ | date=August 17, 2018|access-date=April 1, 2020}}{{cbignore}}

Personal life

= Marriage =

Lee met his wife, attorney Tonya Lewis Lee, in 1992, and they were married a year later in New York.{{cite web |author=Rothkranz, Lindzy |url=http://heavy.com/sports/2015/02/tonya-lewis-lee-spikes-wife-kids-producer-lawyer-equality/ |title=Tonya Lewis Lee, Spike's Wife: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know |date=February 13, 2015 |publisher=Heavy}} They have two children.{{cite web |author=am |url=http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2009/10/spike-lee-and-kids-attend-michael-jacksons-this-is-it-premiere/ |title=Black Celebrity Kids, babies, and their Parents » SPIKE LEE AND KIDS ATTEND MICHAEL JACKSON'S THIS IS IT PREMIERE |publisher=Blackcelebkids.Com |date=October 27, 2009 |access-date=August 28, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130118032015/http://www.blackcelebkids.com/2009/10/spike-lee-and-kids-attend-michael-jacksons-this-is-it-premiere/ |archive-date=January 18, 2013}}

File:Spike Lee does the T-shirt Toss at The Liberty vs Aces WNBA Semifinals, September 29, 2024.jpg Semifinals, at the NY Liberty vs LV Aces game on September 29, 2024]]

When asked by the BBC whether he believed in God, Lee said: "Yes. I have faith that there is a higher being. All this cannot be an accident."{{cite news |last1=Papamichael |first1=Stella |title=Calling the Shots: No.21: Spike Lee |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/films/callingtheshots/spike_lee.shtml |access-date=March 23, 2017 |publisher=BBC}} Lee continues to maintain an office in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, but he and his wife live on the Upper East Side of Manhattan.{{Cite web|url=https://nymag.com/nymetro/realestate/features/4906/|title=Real Estate 2001: Neighborhood Profiles - Nymag|first=Boris|last=Kachka|website=New York Magazine|date=March 12, 2001 }}

= Sports =

Spike Lee is a fan of the New York Knicks basketball team, the New York Yankees baseball team (although he grew up a New York Mets fan),{{cite web|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/olympics/2015/10/27/spike-lee-grand-marshal-nyc-marathon/74705686/|title= Spike Lee has love, respect for NYC Marathon runners|editor=Berg, Aimee|date=October 27, 2015|publisher=USA Today|accessdate=June 11, 2022}} the New York Rangers ice hockey team, and the English football club Arsenal.{{Cite web |url=http://www.foxsports.com/nhl/story/spike-lee-new-york-knicks-nba-lockout-now-a-new-york-rangers-fan-seen-buying-gear-in-front-row-madison-square-garden-102911 |title=Spike Lee makes the switch to NHL |last1=Oct 29 |first1=foxsports |last2=ET |first2=2011 at 1:00a |date=October 29, 2011 |website=FOX Sports |language=en-US|access-date=March 13, 2020}} One of the documentaries in ESPN's 30 for 30 series, Winning Time: Reggie Miller vs. The New York Knicks, focuses partly on Lee's interaction with Miller at Knicks games in Madison Square Garden. In June 2003, Lee sought an injunction against Spike TV to prevent them from using his nickname; he claimed that because of his fame, viewers would think he was associated with the channel.{{cite web |last=Romano |first=Allison |date=April 21, 2003 |title=TNN Hopes Mainly Men Will Watch "Spike TV"s |url=http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA293348.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506102313/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/148961-TNN_Hopes_Mainly_Men_Will_Watch_Spike_TV_.php |archive-date=May 6, 2009 |access-date=August 31, 2007}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.nexttv.com/|title=Nexttv |website=NextTV|access-date=December 20, 2021|archive-date=June 8, 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080608055231/http://www.broadcastingcable.com/article/CA6566492.html|url-status=dead}}{{Cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/showbiz/2961726.stm |work=BBC News |title=Spike sues over channel name |date=June 4, 2003 |access-date=May 23, 2010}} In March 2020, Lee and the security team at Madison Square Garden had a disagreement over which entrance to use to see the New York Knicks; Lee stated he would not attend the rest of the games for the season.{{cite web|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/pop-culture/pop-culture-news/knicks-call-spike-lee-employee-entrance-dispute-laughable-n1148401|title= Knicks call Spike Lee employee entrance dispute 'laughable'|website= NBC|date= March 3, 2020|access-date= August 4, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.newsweek.com/spike-lee-new-york-knicks-feud-employee-entrance-james-dolan-1490336|title= Here's Why Spike Lee and the New York Knicks Are Feuding Right Now|website= Newsweek|date= March 3, 2020|access-date= August 4, 2020}} Spike Lee has also frequented New York Liberty games at Barclays Center, sitting courtside during the 2024 WNBA playoffs in a Sabrina Ionescu jersey.{{Cite web |date=2024-09-29 |title=Kelsey Plum and Sabrina Ionescu Have Drastically Different Spike Lee Experiences During Aces-Liberty |url=https://www.si.com/onsi/womens-fastbreak/news/kelsey-plum-and-sabrina-ionescu-have-drastically-different-spike-lee-experiences-during-aces-liberty-01j8zwdd3mh7 |access-date=2024-09-30 |website=Women's Fastbreak On SI |language=en-US}}

Lee is also a supporter of Spanish tennis player Carlos Alcaraz{{Cite web |date=2025-06-08 |title=Spike Lee tifa Alcaraz nella finale contro Sinner a Parigi |url=https://www.ansa.it/sito/photogallery/people/2025/06/08/spike-lee-tifa-alcaraz-nella-finale-contro-sinner-a-parigi_0ca0b249-37c1-416f-98f4-d80739495897.html |access-date=2025-06-15 |publisher=ANSA |language=it}} and Italian soccer team Inter Milan, featuring as the narrator in a promotional video for the club in June 2025.{{Cite web |date=2025-06-11 |title=Spike Lee nel nome dell'Inter |url=https://www.rollingstone.it/cinema-tv/news-cinema-tv/spike-lee-e-un-tifoso-dellinter/989239/ |access-date=2025-06-15 |website=Rolling Stone Italia |language=it}}

= Politics =

File:Lozupone-sanders-wsqp-rally4.png in Washington Square Park, April 2016]]

In May 1999, the New York Post reported that Lee made an inflammatory comment about Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Association of America (NRA), while speaking to reporters at the Cannes Film Festival. Lee was quoted as saying the National Rifle Association should be disbanded and, of Heston, someone should "Shoot him with a .44 Bull Dog."{{cite web |url=https://www.chicagotribune.com/1999/05/28/spike-lee-says-remark-about-shooting-heston-was-a-joke/ |title=Spike Lee Says Remark About Shooting Heston Was A Joke – Chicago Tribune |publisher=Articles.chicagotribune.com |date=May 28, 1999 |access-date=February 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100518223804/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1999-05-28/news/9905290188_1_nra-president-rash-of-school-shootings-remarks |archive-date=May 18, 2010 |url-status=live}}{{cite web |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2008-apr-08-et-hestonletters8-story.html |title=Heston was always a man of his words |work=Los Angeles Times|date=April 8, 2008 |access-date=February 13, 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131113133007/http://articles.latimes.com/2008/apr/08/entertainment/et-hestonletters8 |archive-date=November 13, 2013 |url-status=live}} Lee said he intended it as a joke. He was responding to coverage about whether Hollywood was responsible for school shootings. "The problem is guns", he said. Republican House Majority Leader Dick Armey condemned Lee as having "nothing to offer the debate on school violence except more violence and more hate".{{cite news |url=http://www.salon.com/ent/log/1999/05/28/spike/index.html |title=Living foot to mouth |work=Salon.com |date=May 28, 1999 |access-date=June 13, 2011 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080623115810/https://www.salon.com/ent/log/1999/05/28/spike/index.html |archive-date=June 23, 2008}}

In October 2005, Lee responded to a CNN anchor's question as to whether the government intentionally ignored the plight of black Americans during the 2005 Hurricane Katrina catastrophe by saying, "It's not too far-fetched. I don't put anything past the United States government. I don't find it too far-fetched that they tried to displace all the black people out of New Orleans."{{cite web |url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=QroaAAAAIBAJ&dq=far-fetched+that+they+tried+to+displace+all+the+black+people&pg=6597,2786253 |title=Milwaukee Journal Sentinel – Google News Archive Search |website=news.google.com}} In later comments, Lee cited the government's past including the Tuskegee Syphilis Study.{{Cite web|url=https://www.sootoday.com/local-entertainment/all-about-spike-lees-latest-film-147237|title=All about Spike Lee's latest film|website=SooToday.com|date=August 14, 2006 }}{{cite web |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7j0SqSn14A | archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211028/R7j0SqSn14A| archive-date=October 28, 2021|title=Clip of Lee expressing his views of the Hurricane Katrina and Tuskegee matters on Real Time with Bill Maher | date=March 6, 2007|publisher=YouTube |access-date=June 13, 2011}}{{cbignore}}

In May 2020, Lee published a three-minute short film, NEW YORK NEW YORK, on Instagram{{Cite web |title=Spike Lee made an emotional 3-minute film dedicated to New York City |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/08/entertainment/spike-lee-film-tribute-new-york-city/index.html |date=May 8, 2020 |website=CNN |access-date=May 23, 2020}} that was later featured on the city's official website.{{cite web|url=https://www.visittheusa.com/experience/spike-lees-new-york-city|title= Experience: Spike Lee New York City|website= visittheusa.com|access-date= November 8, 2020}} Lee celebrated Joe Biden's victory over Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election with champagne amid a crowd on the streets of Brooklyn.{{cite web |url=https://popculture.com/trending/news/watch-spike-lee-pops-bottle-champagne-brooklyn-donald-trump-loss-joe-biden/ |title=Watch: Spike Lee Pops a Bottle of Champagne in Middle of Brooklyn Street to Celebrate Joe Biden's Win|website=PopCulture |date=November 7, 2020 |access-date=November 8, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201108011229/https://popculture.com/trending/news/watch-spike-lee-pops-bottle-champagne-brooklyn-donald-trump-loss-joe-biden |archive-date=November 8, 2020 |url-status=live}} Lee endorsed Kamala Harris in the 2024 United States presidential election and spoke at one of her campaign rallies on October 24, 2024.{{Cite web |date=2024-10-22 |title=VP Kamala Harris in Atlanta for rally with former President Obama, Spike Lee |url=https://www.fox5atlanta.com/news/harris-joined-obama-tyler-perry-bruce-springsteen-atlanta-rally |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=FOX 5 Atlanta |language=en-US}}{{Cite web |date=2024-10-24 |title=Spike Lee, Samuel L. Jackson, Tyler Perry to join Kamala Harris at metro Atlanta event |url=https://www.atlantanewsfirst.com/2024/10/24/spike-lee-samuel-l-jackson-tyler-perry-join-kamala-harris-metro-atlanta-event/ |access-date=2024-10-25 |website=Atlanta News First |language=en}}

= Legal issues =

In March 2012, after the killing of Trayvon Martin, Spike Lee was one of many people who used Twitter to circulate a message that claimed to give the home address of the shooter George Zimmerman. The address turned out to be incorrect, causing the real occupants, Elaine and David McClain, to leave home and stay at a hotel due to numerous death threats. Lee issued an apology and reached an agreement with the McClains, which reportedly included "compensation", with their attorney stating "The McClains' claim is fully resolved".{{cite web |url=https://edition.cnn.com/2012/03/28/justice/florida-teen-spike-lee/?hpt=us_c2 |title=Spike Lee apologizes for retweeting wrong Zimmerman address |work=CNN |date=March 29, 2012 |access-date=March 29, 2012}}{{cite news |url=http://www.latimes.com/news/nation/nationnow/la-na-nn-trayvon-martin-lee-settlement-20120329,0,7063902.story |title=Trayvon Martin: Spike Lee settles with family forced to flee home |first=Michael |last=Muskal |work=Los Angeles Times |date=March 29, 2012 |access-date=April 1, 2012}} Nevertheless, in November 2013, the McClains filed a negligence lawsuit which accused Lee of "encouraging a dangerous mob mentality among his Twitter followers, as well as the public-at-large".{{cite web |url=http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/spike-lee-tweet-lawsuit-675413 |title=Elderly Couple Sues Spike Lee Over Tweet |work=The Smoking Gun |date=November 8, 2013 |access-date=November 11, 2013}}{{cite web |url=http://gma.yahoo.com/blogs/abc-blogs/spike-lee-sued-over-george-zimmerman-tweet-165719017--abc-news-topstories.html |title=Spike Lee Sued Over George Zimmerman Tweet |work=ABC News |author=Colleen Curry |date=November 11, 2013 |access-date=November 11, 2013}} The lawsuit, which a court filing reportedly valued at $1.2 million, alleged that the couple suffered "injuries and damages" that continued after the initial settlement up through Zimmerman's trial in 2013. A Seminole County judge dismissed the McClains' suit, agreeing with Lee that the issue had already been settled previously.{{cite web |url=http://www.centrictv.com/entertainment/articles/2014/08/08/judge-dismisses-lawsuit-against-spike-lee-over-george-zimmerman-tweet.html |title=Judge Dismisses Lawsuit Against Spike Lee Over George Zimmerman Tweet – What's Good – Entertainment – Articles – Centric |first=Centric |last=TV }}

Controversies

At the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, Lee, who was then making Miracle at St. Anna, about an all-black U.S. division fighting in Italy during World War II, criticized director Clint Eastwood for not depicting black Marines in his own World War II film, Flags of Our Fathers. Citing historical accuracy, Eastwood responded that his film was specifically about the Marines who raised the flag on Mount Suribachi at Iwo Jima, pointing out that while black Marines did fight at Iwo Jima, the U.S. military was racially segregated during World War II, and none of the men who raised the flag were black. He angrily said that Lee should "shut his face". Lee responded that Eastwood was acting like an "angry old man", and argued that despite making two Iwo Jima films back to back, Letters from Iwo Jima and Flags of Our Fathers, "there was not one black soldier in both of those films".{{cite web |url=https://abcnews.go.com/print?id=5015524 |last=Marikar |first=Sheila |title=Spike Strikes Back: Clint's 'an Angry Old Man' |work=ABC News |date=June 6, 2008}}{{cite news |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/7439371.stm |work=BBC News |title=Eastwood hits back at Lee claims |date=June 6, 2008 |access-date=August 4, 2009}}{{cite journal |last=Lyman |first=Eric J. |title=Lee calls out Eastwood, Coens over casting |journal=The Hollywood Reporter |issue=8 |pages=3, 24 |date=May 21, 2008 |url=http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/news/e3if545c66bc7e57054b34aaa6cd2b36458 }} He added that he and Eastwood were "not on a plantation".{{cite news |url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2008/jun/09/news.usa |title='We're not on a plantation, Clint' |date=June 9, 2008 |first=Martin |last=Wainwright |work=The Guardian}} Lee later claimed that the event was exaggerated by the media and that he and Eastwood had reconciled through mutual friend Steven Spielberg, culminating in his sending Eastwood a print of Miracle at St. Anna.{{Cite web |url=http://omg.yahoo.com/news/access-exclusive-spike-lee-on-clint-eastwood-we-re-cool/12796 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100105205333/http://omg.yahoo.com/news/access-exclusive-spike-lee-on-clint-eastwood-we-re-cool/12796|url-status=dead |title="Access Exclusive: Spike Lee On Clint Eastwood: 'We're Cool'" OMG!/Yahoo! September 6, 2008 |archive-date=January 5, 2010}}

Lee has been criticized for his representation of women. For example, bell hooks said that he wrote black women in the same objectifying way that white male filmmakers write the characters of white women.{{Cite book|last=hooks|first=bell|date=October 10, 2014|title=Black Looks|doi=10.4324/9781315743226|isbn=978-1-315-74322-6}} Rosie Perez, who was in an acting role for the first time as Tina in Do the Right Thing, said later that she was very uncomfortable with doing the nude scene in the film, saying, "I had a big problem with it, mainly because I was afraid of what my family would think...It wasn't really about taking off my clothes. But I also didn't feel good about it because the atmosphere wasn't correct."{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2000/06/25/magazine/the-pressure-to-take-it-off.html|title=The Pressure To Take It Off|last=Udovitch|first=Mim|date=June 25, 2000|work=The New York Times|access-date=May 10, 2019|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}} Subsequently, Perez stated that Lee had offered an apology, and the two maintained their friendship.{{cite web | url=https://variety.com/2023/tv/news/rosie-perez-spike-lee-matrix-audition-1235566016/#! | title=Rosie Perez on Making Peace with Spike Lee, Bombing Her 'Matrix' Audition and Why Hollywood's Latino Representation Still 'Sucks' | date=March 29, 2023 }}

Over the course of his career Spike Lee has defended Woody Allen, Michael Jackson and Nate Parker, all of whom have been accused of sexual misconduct.{{cite web|url=https://www.indiewire.com/2019/09/nate-parker-apologizes-venice-1202170368/|title= Nate Parker Apologizes for Being 'Tone Deaf,' Spike Lee Defends the Disgraced Director|website=IndieWire|date= September 2019|access-date= January 19, 2020}}{{cite magazine |url=https://ew.com/movies/spike-lee-defends-woody-allen-cancel-culture/ |title=Spike Lee defends Woody Allen against 'this cancel thing': 'Woody's a friend of mine' |magazine=Entertainment Weekly |first=Tyler |last=Aquillina |date=June 13, 2020 |access-date=July 21, 2020}}{{cite web |url=https://deadline.com/2020/06/spike-lee-walks-back-comments-defending-friend-woody-allen-against-cancel-culture-1202958635/ |title=Spike Lee Walks Back Comments Defending "Friend" Woody Allen Against Cancel Culture |website=Deadline Hollywood |first=Anita |last=Bennett |date=June 13, 2020 |access-date=July 21, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/15/entertainment/spike-lee-woody-allen-trnd/index.html|title= Spike Lee apologizes after appearing to defend Woody Allen|website= CNN|date= June 15, 2020|access-date= August 4, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/14/spike-lee-apologizes-after-defending-woody-allen|title= 'My words were wrong': Spike Lee apologizes after defending Woody Allen|website= The Guardian|date= June 14, 2020|access-date= August 4, 2020}}

Filmography

class="wikitable" \|+Directed features
Year ! Title ! Distributor
1986 \| She's Gotta Have It \| Island Pictures
1988 \| School Daze \| Columbia Pictures
1989 \| Do the Right Thing \|rowspan=3\| Universal Pictures
1990 \| Mo' Better Blues
1991 \| Jungle Fever
1992 \| Malcolm X \| Warner Bros.
1994 \| Crooklyn \|rowspan=2\| Universal Pictures
1995 \| Clockers
rowspan=2\| 1996 \| Girl 6 \| 20th Century Fox
Get on the Bus \| Columbia Pictures
1998 \| He Got Game \|rowspan=2\| Touchstone Pictures
1999 \| Summer of Sam
2000 \| Bamboozled \| New Line Cinema
2002 \| 25th Hour \| Touchstone Pictures
2004 \| She Hate Me \| Sony Pictures Classics
2006 \| Inside Man \| Universal Pictures
2008 \| Miracle at St. Anna \| Touchstone Pictures
2012 \| Red Hook Summer \| Variance Films
2013 \| Oldboy \| FilmDistrict
2014 \| Da Sweet Blood of Jesus \| Gravitas Ventures
2015 \| Chi-Raq \| Roadside Attractions
2018 \| BlacKkKlansman \| Focus Features
2020 \| Da 5 Bloods \| Netflix
2025 \| Highest 2 Lowest \| A24 Apple TV

class="wikitable"

|+Directed features

Year

! Title

! Distributor

1986

| She's Gotta Have It

| Island Pictures

1988

| School Daze

| Columbia Pictures

1989

| Do the Right Thing

|rowspan=3| Universal Pictures

1990

| Mo' Better Blues

1991

| Jungle Fever

1992

| Malcolm X

| Warner Bros.

1994

| Crooklyn

|rowspan=2| Universal Pictures

1995

| Clockers

rowspan=2| 1996

| Girl 6

| 20th Century Fox

Get on the Bus

| Columbia Pictures

1998

| He Got Game

|rowspan=2| Touchstone Pictures

1999

| Summer of Sam

2000

| Bamboozled

| New Line Cinema

2002

| 25th Hour

| Touchstone Pictures

2004

| She Hate Me

| Sony Pictures Classics

2006

| Inside Man

| Universal Pictures

2008

| Miracle at St. Anna

| Touchstone Pictures

2012

| Red Hook Summer

| Variance Films

2013

| Oldboy

| FilmDistrict

2014

| Da Sweet Blood of Jesus

| Gravitas Ventures

2015

| Chi-Raq

| Roadside Attractions

2018

| BlacKkKlansman

| Focus Features

2020

| Da 5 Bloods

| Netflix

2025

| Highest 2 Lowest

| A24
Apple TV

Awards and honors

In 1983, Lee won the Student Academy Award for his film Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.{{cite web |url=http://www.oscars.org/saa/winners/winners.pdf |title=Student Film Award Winners |publisher=Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences |page=10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205013039/http://www.oscars.org/saa/winners/winners.pdf |archive-date=December 5, 2004 |access-date=June 19, 2018 |url-status=live }} He won awards at the Black Reel Awards for Love and Basketball,{{cite web |url=http://blackreelawards.com/past-winners/ |title=Past Winners |publisher=Black Reel Awards |access-date=June 19, 2018 |archive-date=February 26, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160226112208/http://blackreelawards.com/past-winners/ |url-status=dead }} the Black Movie Awards for Inside Man, and the Berlin International Film Festival for Get on the Bus.{{cite web |url=https://www.berlinale.de/en/archiv/jahresarchive/1997/03_preistr_ger_1997/03_Preistraeger_1997.html |title=Prizes & Honours 1997 |publisher=Berlin International Film Festival |access-date=June 19, 2018}} He won BAFTA Award for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman.{{cite web |url=https://variety.com/2019/film/news/bafta-awards-2019-winners-list-1203133526/ |title=BAFTA Awards 2019: Complete Winners List |access-date=February 12, 2019 |date=February 10, 2019 |author=Nickolai, Nate |work=Variety}}

Lee was nominated for Academy Awards for Best Original Screenplay for Do the Right Thing{{Cite web|url=https://www.oscars.org/oscars/ceremonies/1990|title=The 62nd Academy Awards | 1990|website=Oscars.org | Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences|date=October 5, 2014 }}{{Cite web|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kT6QnJLxWxw|title=Dead Poets Society Wins Original Screenplay: 1990 Oscars|date=August 11, 2014 |via=www.youtube.com}} and Best Documentary for 4 Little Girls, but did not win either award. In 2015, at the age of 58, Lee became the youngest person ever to receive an Honorary Academy Award.{{cite web|url=https://www.theguardian.com/film/2015/aug/28/spike-lee-to-get-honorary-oscar-25-years-after-do-the-right-thing|title= Spike Lee to get honorary Oscar 25 years after Do the Right Thing|website= The Guardian|date= August 28, 2015|access-date= August 5, 2020}} Lee received the award as "a champion of independent film and an inspiration to young filmmakers". Frequent collaborators Denzel Washington, Samuel L. Jackson, and Wesley Snipes presented Lee with the award at a private ceremony at the Governors Awards.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-34826275|title= Spike Lee calls for diversity as he receives honorary Oscar|work= BBC News|date= November 15, 2015|access-date= August 5, 2020}}{{cite web|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/race/honorary-oscar-recipient-spike-lee-818143|title= Honorary Oscar Recipient Spike Lee Also a Frequent Critic of the Academy|website= The Hollywood Reporter|date= August 27, 2015|access-date= August 6, 2020}} In 2019, Lee's film BlacKkKlansman went on to receive six Academy Award nominations. Lee himself was nominated for three; Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Adapted Screenplay.{{cite web |url=https://www.cnn.com/2019/01/22/entertainment/spike-lee-oscars-best-director-nomination/index.html |title=Spike Lee earns first Oscar nomination for directing |access-date=February 27, 2019 |date=January 22, 2019 |publisher=CNN |author=Gonzalez, Sandra}} He went on to win the Best Adapted Screenplay, his first Academy Award.{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/movies/spike-lee-oscars-speech.html |title=Spike Lee Won an Oscar. Read His Passionate Speech. |access-date=February 27, 2019 |date=February 24, 2019 |work=The New York Times |author=Deb, Sopan}}

Two of his films have competed for the Palme d'Or award at the Cannes Film Festival, and of the two, BlacKkKlansman won the Grand Prix in 2018.{{cite web |last1=Debruge |first1=Peter |title=Japanese Director Hirokazu Kore-eda's 'Shoplifters' Wins Palme d'Or at Cannes |url=https://variety.com/2018/film/news/cannes-film-festival-2018-award-winners-palme-d-or-1202816743/ |website=Variety |access-date=May 22, 2018 |date=May 19, 2018}} Lee's films Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, 4 Little Girls, She's Gotta Have It, and Bamboozled were each selected by the Library of Congress for preservation in the National Film Registry for being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant". On May 18, 2016, Lee delivered the Commencement address for The Johns Hopkins University Class of 2016.{{cite web |url=https://hub.jhu.edu/2016/05/18/commencement-2016-spike-lee/ |title=Filmmaker Spike Lee speaks at Johns Hopkins graduation |quote=I wish you could be graduating into a world of peace, light, and love, but that's not the case |website=Johns Hopkins University |date=May 18, 2016 |author=Bryan Stevenson |access-date=June 26, 2020}}

He has been named as the recipient of the Ebert Director Award at the TIFF Tribute Awards for the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival.[https://www.thestar.com/entertainment/spike-lee-and-pedro-almod-var-to-receive-tiff-tribute-awards-while-dicks-the-musical/article_d99c652e-a900-5b50-bf5b-4c37f4d5c14f.html "Spike Lee and Pedro Almodóvar to receive TIFF Tribute Awards, while ‘Dicks: The Musical’ to open Midnight Madness"]. Toronto Star, August 3, 2023. In March 2024, Lee received a Board of Governor's Award from the American Society of Cinematographers.{{Cite web |date=February 6, 2024 |title=ASC to Honor Spike Lee with Board of Governors Award |url=https://theasc.com/news/asc-to-honor-spike-lee-with-board-of-governors-award |access-date=February 26, 2024 |website=American Cinematographer}}

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite web |url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/19/Spike-Lee.html |title=Spike Lee Biography (1956?-) |work=Film Reference |access-date=August 14, 2010}}

{{cite episode |title=7 |series=Who Do You Think You Are? |series-link=Who Do You Think You Are? (U.S. TV series) |network=NBC |airdate=April 30, 2010 |season=1 |number=7}}

{{cite magazine |title=Milestones |magazine=Time |date=December 19, 1994}}

{{cite web |url=http://arsenal.theoffside.com/team-news/arsenal-supporters-series-spike-lee.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20091202081223/http://arsenal.theoffside.com/team-news/arsenal-supporters-series-spike-lee.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=December 2, 2009 |title=Arsenal Supporters Series: Spike Lee |work=Arsenal.theoffside.com |access-date=August 14, 2010}}}}

External links

{{IMDb name}}
{{Twitter}}
{{Charlie Rose view|322}}
{{New York Times topic|new_id=person/spike-lee}}
{{Guardian topic}}
{{C-SPAN}}
[http://www.depauw.edu/news/index.asp?id=12593 Ubben Lecture at DePauw University]
[https://www.criterion.com/current/posts/98-do-the-right-thing Criterion Collection Essay on Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing]
[https://web.archive.org/web/20090725081029/http://www2.canada.com/windsorstar/news/story.html?id=8dfb2753-6522-47aa-b53b-51dd78c0ace7 Lee's Lens Exposes Inequalities, but he's no Revolutionary] by Brendan Kelly, Canwest, April 11, 2009
[https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2019/02/07/spike-lee-interview-race-america-blackkklansman-2019-224822/ Interview with Politico Magazine February 7, 2019]