Spike Lee reportedly tried to storm out of the 2019 Oscars ceremony after the Green Book won the Best Picture award Sunday night.
“Spike Lee was visibly angry when ‘Green Book’ was announced as the winner of best picture,” journalist Andrew Dalton tweeted. “Waving his arms in disgust and appearing to try to storm out of the Dolby Theatre before he was stopped at the doors. He returned to his seat when the speeches were over.”
Spike Lee was visibly angry when "Green Book" was announced as the winner of best picture at the Oscars, waving his arms in disgust and appearing to try to storm out of the Dolby Theatre before he was stopped at the doors. He returned to his seat when the speeches were over.
— Andrew Dalton (@andyjamesdalton) February 25, 2019
Lee, who, with three others, won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, addressed the matter during a press conference. When asked about his “reaction,” the director jokingly compared the moment to his passionate New York Knicks fandom.
“I thought it was courtside at the Garden and the ref made a bad call,” he said.
Spike Lee on Green Book winning the Oscar for Best Picture. #Oscars pic.twitter.com/91G2GyLPuM
— Yashar Ali 🐘 (@yashar) February 25, 2019
The BlackKklansman director was not the only person bothered by the Green Book. S
The film is set in 1962 and depicts the story of an African-American pianist Don Shirley (Ali) who is driven around the Midwest and Deep South by a White chauffeur, Tony “Lip” Vallelonga (Mortensen). The title of the feature is the name of an actual travel guide that listed the safe motels, restaurants and gas stations Blacks could safely visit during the Jim Crow era, created by U.S. Postal worker Victor Hugo Green.
The film was lambasted for its White savior trope and accused it of appropriating a time of racial terror in America to make it palatable for White audiences.
Shirley died in 2013, and his family objected to the film and its portrayal of the musician, which according to Vulture, prompted Ali to apologize for any offense caused by his portrayal. The actor won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for the controversial role.
In January 2019, Shirley’s niece, Yvonne, told The Hollywood Reporter, “It’s just about the truth. We know the truth of our loved one.”
There was a great deal of rumination about the film and Hollywood’s failure to accurately tell stories about race on Twitter. Take a look at the tweets below.
Green Book? More like the White Pages pic.twitter.com/DjO2dmVnqH
— Ira (@ira) February 25, 2019
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
No disrespect to Green Book at the #Oscars, but many of us in the black community would like to see greater recognition for movies about the black experience and not just for movies that make the black experience comfortable for white audiences.pic.twitter.com/vOdNEmx53X
— Keith Boykin (@keithboykin) February 25, 2019
Green Book was not for Black people.
— Brittany Packnett (@MsPackyetti) February 25, 2019
It was to make white people feel good about doing little to stop racism beyond the interpersonal.
Also, the other movies were better.
ALSO, Regina, Ruth, Spike & more amazing Black folks won last night so I’m done talmbout Green a Book.
Green Book is a biopic about a black man that focuses on a white man and like Spike, I am bored of watching Hollywood pat themselves on the back for pushing a ‘black movie’ while simultaneously erasing the voices of the central characters #Oscarshttps://t.co/W3nUWzcCSZ
— tobí (@TobiRachel_) February 25, 2019
extreme bummer that for many people going forward, the phrase "Green Book" will call to mind a racially problematic movie illustrating the film industry's embarrassing myopia, rather than a text that helped black people survive racial violence for decades
— Inkoo Kang (@inkookang) February 25, 2019
Remember how BLACKKKLANSMAN ends with, "oh yeah nothing has changed and we haven't learned anything?" And people were like, "that's really on the nose."
— Mattle Angel: Guringo (@EmperorOTN) February 25, 2019
Anyway, GREEN BOOK won.
Green Book??? Trump’s getting re-elected, isn’t he? #Oscars
— Hari Kondabolu (@harikondabolu) February 25, 2019
This Green Book situation is a great example of how ‘diversity’ and racism has evolved in Hollywood. Black representation has become a wagon that yt industry folks can jump on and still manage to come out on top. The use of black narratives as a trend to line their own pockets.
— Susuana✨ (@Susuana_Xx) February 25, 2019
Good morning. Please know that much like “Driving Miss Daisy” and “The Help” history will not be kind to Green Book. Trust and believe that.
— Rebecca Theodore-Vachon (@FilmFatale_NYC) February 25, 2019
