Spike Lee did not mention President Trump by name during his acceptance speech Sunday night at the Oscars, but Trump took exception just the same: “Be nice if Spike Lee could read his notes, or better yet not have to use notes at all, when doing his racist hit on your President, who has done more for African Americans (Criminal Justice Reform, Lowest Unemployment numbers in History, Tax Cuts,etc.) than almost any other Pres!” he tweeted Monday morning. In his speech after winning best adapted screenplay for BlacKkKlansman, Lee first talked about slavery, noting that it had been 400 years since “our ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa and bought to Jamestown, Virginia,” per Mediaite.
He went on to praise his grandmother, who went to Spelman College even though her own mother had been a slave and then scrimped to send Lee, her first grandchild, to film school. “I give praise to our ancestors who have built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of its native people,” said Lee. He then got into the section that apparently irked Trump: “The 2020 presidential election is around the corner,” he said. “Let’s all mobilize. Let’s all be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing! You know I had to get that in there.” Read the speech in full here.