Oscars 2019: Spike Lee gets political in his award acceptance speech, asks voters to 'do the right thing'
Finally, we have a big takeaway from the 91st Academy Awards, and let's take a moment to thank director Spike Lee for it. As 'BlackkKlansman' went on to receive the award for the Best Adapted Screenplay category, Spike Lee took the stage to receive the award along with fellow screenplay writer, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott. This is also the first time that Lee has been nominated for the category Best Director, and he already decided to do the right thing by wearing four-fingered LOVE and HATE rings to Sunday’s Academy Awards. And it took him 30 years to hold this award in his hands.
While receiving the award, Lee spoke at length about his grandmother, who in spite of being the daughter of a slave, had graduated from college. He mentioned that in the 100 years that his grandmother lived, "My grandmother put aside 50 years of her social security cheques, to put her first grandchild- she called me Spikey Poo- she put me through college, NYU grad school." Lee alluded to the reference of the slavery that Africans suffered in the hands of those who claimed them as their slaves and had snatched away their freedom. Lee spoke about how 400 years ago, in 1619, his ancestors "were stolen from Africa and brought to Jamestown, Virginia, enslaved."