Spike Lee had a reason to celebrate last night with his Oscar win for Best Adapted Screenplay for BlacKkKlansman but the one thing he wasn’t celebrating was the Best Picture win for Green Book. In fact, the director turned his back to the stage & nearly left after the win.
In the press room, Lee recalled the time that Do the Right Thing didn’t get a best picture nomination in 1989, the year that Driving Miss Daisy won. Lee said while sipping champagne “this is my sixth glass and you know why. I’m snake-bit. Every time someone is driving somebody I lose. But in 89 I didn’t get nominated, so.”
Lee went on to say when he heard Green Book called as best picture “I thought I was courtside at the Garden and the ref made a bad call.”
Lee wasn’t alone in his displeasure. According to the “Kansas City Star”, BlacKkKlansman producer Jordan Peele also refused to clap after Green Book won best picture. There was also online criticism of the win as well. Twitter had a lot say about the win with many calling Green Book this year’s Crash and also calling out the movie team’s acceptance speech for centering more on Viggo Mortensen’s role in the production than Mahershala Ali’s. Check out some of the Twitter outrage below:
For anyone who may be interested in what the Green Book actually was, here is a link to more information about this act of resistance and source of love and survival for many African-Americans. It started with Victor Hugo Green. #OSCARS https://t.co/gdFp1mekub pic.twitter.com/9WkeInv2fd
— Ava DuVernay (@ava) February 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/rgay/status/1099885574842834950
This man said that Green Book started with Viggo Mortensen. Not Mahershala…who played the character the story is actually about.
Viggo. Mortensen. #Oscars
— 36 Chambers (@kidnoble) February 25, 2019
Remember when Green Book won Best Picture? Man, that choice did not age well.
— Mark Harris (@MarkHarrisNYC) February 25, 2019
https://twitter.com/ira/status/1099886190285578242
Some of Green Book’s best friends are black movies.
— Alex Seitz-Wald (@aseitzwald) February 25, 2019
Green Book guy just said Viggo made the movie. Oh yeah and Mahershala. But really Viggo #Oscars pic.twitter.com/kZMdQ7a0jL
— Sarah Cooper (@sarahcpr) February 25, 2019
How many more times is the American Negro going to bundle up their hopes and dreams in somebody else's award? #Oscars will continue to #GreenBook you until you finally decide that your opinions matter more than anyone else's.
— Greg Carr (@AfricanaCarr) February 25, 2019
"Green Book is an inspirational tale of how we can end racism if everyone, regardless of background, just works together. So please welcome the stage the producers of Green Book: 1000 white guys who were all born in 1961" pic.twitter.com/XW6nzqJc9q
— Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) February 25, 2019
