Spike Lee fights back
By The Blemish, 12:25 PM on Jun 06, 2008, 71 Comments
What started as a simple remark to promote Spike Lee’s new WWII movie, Miracle at St. Anna, has turned into an even better promotion. Today, Spike Lee gave his response to Clint Eastwood’s suggestion that he should “shut his face.” Spike tells ABC News:
“First of all, the man is not my father and we’re not on a plantation either. He’s a great director. He makes his films, I make my films. The thing about it though, I didn’t personally attack him. And a comment like ‘a guy like that should shut his face’ — come on Clint, come on. He sounds like an angry old man right there.”
“If he wishes, I could assemble African-American men who fought at Iwo Jima and I’d like him to tell these guys that what they did was insignificant and they did not exist,” he said. “I’m not making this up. I know history. I’m a student of history. And I know the history of Hollywood and its omission of the one million African-American men and women who contributed to World War II.”
Then again, maybe Clint Eastwood misinterpreted his comments.
“I never said he should show one of the other guys holding up the flag as black. I said that African-Americans played a significant part in Iwo Jima,” he said. “For him to insinuate that I’m rewriting history and have one of the four guys with the flag be black … no one said that. It’s just that there’s not one black in either film. And because I know my history, that’s why I made that observation.”
They should just hug and get it over with. Maybe even give each other a fist pound. After all, fist pounding is the new hugging. They can even be cutesy about it. You know how sometimes you see young kids try to teach old white men urban handshakes, but the old guy messes up and they both laugh resulting in sort of shared “moment”? Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood should do that.
[Spike Lee at Cannes 2008. Image via Splash News]
just another black person exploiting their on people to line their own pockets…if he can “stir it up” he’ll get more coverage for his film , ie more money at the box office…
I fought for civil rights bacame great friends with and respected the African-American Community in doing so I found them to be more racist than Whites, Mexicans or the asian’s with whom I associated. I had so much vested in the movement, just to see the gang bangers, rappers turn the Civil Rights movement back 100 years. Disgustingly I observe the reversal of what we fought for and frankly I am weary of hearing people like Spike Lee and Sharpton continue to belabor the issue. I hope that Obama wins because if he does, I swear I do not ever want to hear about the struggle again. Please all of you hyphenated races, just be American or go back to your country of origin and shut up.
What about the chinese that were brought over to build the railroads, did they not lose their names. culture etc?? i am sorry but if you think you need all that to be a better person then what is stopping you from going back? Go back to a war torn country where if you are from a different clan you are killed or have body parts hacked off. I think you have it pretty good here, i accept you for who you are nothing more, nothing less.
So you are one of those so called “non-racist” because you have a black friend type. Your opinions are very racist to the least. Why wouldn’t you say you found John to be more racist than Andrew other than stereotype the entire race? It is people like you who scare me. Plus, Barack Obama is not black. He is multi racial. Had Barack Obama been a black man, most of you would have had him killed by now. It just shows how America has a long way to go in fighting this battle. You blame black folks for everything that you have done in this world. Your parents never taught you to respect people and judge them individually. That is why you are on about blacks being racist. How dare you despise and throw your venom at the entire race? Would you say the same about white folk? Worse you created the rapper crap to despise us – black women. Who buys it? White men like you.
Spike’s motive for all of his media stunts is to cover up the fact that ultimately he is an extremely poor film maker. I’ve seen several of his movies and they to me seem more concerned with pushing an agenda than telling a story — basically deceiving his audience into thinking they are about to spend part of their life watching one thing and ultimately finding that they were fooled into watching something else. The issue here is that he attacked a respected film maker with inappropriate claims of racism.
As far as racism goes society over the last several years is attempting to progress to a point of racial transparency. While history should be remembered so as to never repeat the mistakes, the historical reflections should be in the form of how we have progressed and where we can improve, never to spread anger and blame.
Racial lines are extremely delicate topics to discuss. This delicate topic must be handled with care. To speak in terms of simply “white”, simply “black”, or any other race is limiting. When discussing racial tensions one should be careful not to stereotype all white people, or all black people as harboring hate and misinformation — as a society we are better than this.
When true racism is spotted it should be singled out and corrected. In our modern age many accomplishments have been made toward improving American’s racial eyesight. I believe it was MLK who said, “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.” America’s new problem with racial tension is where to lay blame (historic vs. present) and how to emotionally deal with the past while making the future as bright and fair as possible.
P.S. in response to Miguel Jones’s comment earlier, perhaps the reason you’re experiencing hostility from white people when you “get in their face” is your tone or your audience. Remember this is social change not an avenue to express personal anger.
I would like to quote another crazy “Black” man… ‘If there is a hell below we are all gunna go!” SunRa.
EVERYBODY would rather blame others for problems we all own! I wish this… I wish that… WE WILL ALWAYS BLAME OTHERS BEFORE WE ACCEPT THE ROLE OUR OWN IGNORANCE AND FEAR PLAY! I wonder, how much Hate have you experience in relation to how much you spew on BLACK AMERICA!
I wonder how long Obama will be in office before he is blamed for the sins of others! WE MUST RISE ABOVE BLAME AND HATE OR IT WILL BURY US ALL!!! We as Americans must learn to have dialog about these issues. I have had the Klan outside my door. I have bandaged the wounds of hate only to watch them fester and become infected. Spike has every right to express His opinion. That is what those brave men raised the flag for. So ALL men regardless of color could speak openly and freely. But if the words sting… perhaps it is because of the Real Truth they hold.
If you don’t like what Spike has to say, send a message with your wallet, WE ALL KNOW THAT’S REALLY WHAT MATTERS IN THE GOOD OL’ USA! Don’t go see his movie! Ever since Birth of a Nation White America has been making films of the world that they want to believe in. After more than Four-Hundred years of abuse, BUILDING the greatest nation ever, our compensation is a couple of decades of affirmative-action and a handfull of high paid sports personalities?
Just you wait and see… As a Nation we have a long way to go. And with the attitudes expressed here… I doubt we will ever get there!
You are one of those biggots. Now you are saying that people are killing each other in Africa? If they are, then they are killing each other in Europe too. The Serbians, Croats and Albanians have been at it, killing each other for centuries. What you are referring to are just pockets of places where people have been fighting. It goes to show just how racist and bigoted some of you are, to generalize untruths about an entire continent just because people on that continent do not look like you is mean spirited and cheap. You really stooped low on that one.
Chris,
Bravo!
Chris,
Bravo! Well done.
This is just plain silly! we are still talking about the same b.s white this,black that. people get over it we are all here together like it or not. just about every race that has been here now has had to go through some kind of struggle.the people that should be complaning in this country is the native americans. lands stolen forced to reservations,executed by the government.everything happens for a reason and you should be greatful for the country you now live in. YOU HAVE FREEDOM!!!!!! try expressing your self in some of the african countries of today. good luck all hate mongols. quick question, why are have african americans done nothing to help stop the genocide that is going on in africa? oh yeah most people have there own problems.
Wouldn’t it be nice if we could lose these thin skins and quit being so inflamed by words from ignorant people. I’m tired of hearing about someone getting fired for saying the N word…or someone having a fit about some pastor spouting about whitey. If folks wouldn’t go off over this stupidity…we could get on to the business of fixing the real problems of this world. It was nice to see this country come together after 9-11 – not withstanding the terrible tragedy…why must we continue making the same mistakes as the past? A people divided is a people weak and defenseless…Children can share their toys…why can’t adults??
What do you mean just another black person is that the way you start off when you talk about blacks are you racist that man dont have to exploit anything because one way or the other his movie will come out and it will do the numbers it’s suppose to do and just because he speak up for blacks dont mean that they will support his movie people will support it because it’s a movie they care about
Nice job reggiek. Well said.
Clint Eastwood omitted black soldiers from his ww2 film..that is a big deal…ok. It does mean something…
Movies since the 50’s and so on have NOT been favorable to blacks. Today, June 2008 one does see blacks but they usually are in a role of “I agree, the dominant cultural values are the right values” “yes, those poor people down there are just lazy and no good and need to change” or “yes, I am an attorney and the courts are just by handing out prison terms to these no good lazy immoral folks” and lets not forget “I am just and think that people with different sexual orientation should be respected more than those unruly blacks from poor neighborhoods”
Hollywood and TV we know you have an agenda to propagate your version of what the world should be like and the proof is evident in your productions! Blacks nor poor people dont have much of a say so in the productions, if any at all.
I feel sorry for Spike, and I’m a white guy. I have a lot of respect for Clint, but he was out of line for making a comment like that to Spike. Come on, to tell someone to shut their face in public…This is definitely uncalled for!
In all honesty, Spike and Clint should have taken the entire conversation offline. But despite that, if we are going to make movies that represent historical situations, then we need to be doing this fairly. You never know when someone is going to hit on a movie that will provide a historical reference for future generations.
Personally, I’m sick of all the racial issues…Why is it such a problem to give this up? Black, white, red, green, brown, blue…who cares? All colors are beautiful. Be strong my brothers and sister who believe in this message! It’s time to give up the racial indifferences and move ourselves out of the past and into the future. Love, love, love!!!!
Wha, wha, wha
that was dumb. all the issue stems from one group of people. that group that felt they have been begtter than everyone else for generations and still to this very day.to name this group honestly is not needed because its obvious. and for the question why dont african americans help those in africa? because african americans have lost that connection with africa, how come Cauasians dont help cauasians in other countries? oh yea because they are self centered, i forgot. Everyone honestly has the right to complain about something because they have all have gone through struggles, blacks, jews, irish, polish, asians, indians, arabs, native americans and more. we all have your issues its just that onerace feels like they have more issues than others therefore they dont want to help anyone and pretend that they do but they actually dont
As a Salish Indian (Flathead), Mr. Eastwood missed the fact that Louis Charlo (Salish Indian)helped raise the first flag and was killed a few days later by a sniper. The first flag raised was the small flag that was not photographed.
We didn’t bitch. We still honor our fellow Tribal member ever year without asking for an apology.
…and you know what? White people have done far more than the blacks could ever think of to better the black race…I’ll argue that with you, any time any place….
You should be appreciattve…RACIST BASTURD