00:00This is my sixth class, and you know why?
00:10We're gonna start with 63, and then I'll go back to 248.
00:15Just give me a second to get a mic to them.
00:23Hey, Spike. How are you doing? I'm great. How are you doing?
00:26What is your name? My name is Tondra Stedham. I'm from The Roots.
00:29The Roots? All right.
00:31So first of all, congratulations.
00:33Thank you very much.
00:34I want to say the Academy did the right thing by giving you this award.
00:38Thank you very much.
00:40So I actually recently interviewed Ron Stallworth, and he said that he couldn't imagine anyone else helming this film.
00:47And so I want to ask, what would you say to Ron now that you have this award for writing for this film?
00:52Well, first of all, he lived that life.
00:56He infiltrated the Klan.
00:59He talked to David Duke on the phone.
01:02He was David Duke's bodyguard.
01:07And he lived to write a book to tell about it.
01:11Next.
01:12We're gonna go to 248, and then over to 180.
01:16Right here, Spike. All the way in the back.
01:18Hey.
01:19How are you doing?
01:20Great. Congratulations.
01:22So, you've mentioned Do the Right Thing in your speech and with your accessories today.
01:29So does this make up for Do the Right Thing not winning the Oscar for you right now?
01:36I'm snake bit.
01:37I mean, every time somebody's driving somebody, I lose.
01:51But they change the seating arrangement.
01:55We're gonna go over to 180, and then over here to 95.
02:05But in 89, I didn't get nominated.
02:08So, this one we did.
02:10All right.
02:11Over here.
02:12You want to stand up, 180?
02:13So he can see you.
02:14Yes.
02:15Over here.
02:16Hi.
02:17Yes, how you doing?
02:18Good.
02:19How are you?
02:20Good.
02:21I just wanted to ask you.
02:22We saw a little bit of a reaction to the Green Book win.
02:25Can you give us your thoughts on that best picture win?
02:29Let me take another sip.
02:36Next question.
02:40We're gonna come down here then.
02:45Oh, wait a minute.
02:46What reaction did you see?
02:47What did I do?
02:50No, I thought it was Courtside of the Garden.
02:56The ref made a bad call.
02:57Whoa.
02:58We'll move over here.
03:01Courtside.
03:0295.
03:03The world's most famous arena, Madison Square Garden.
03:05Nick's coming back next year.
03:0795 and then 146.
03:09Spike, right here.
03:10Right here, sir.
03:11What's up?
03:12How's it going?
03:13Good.
03:14Jonathan Landrum, Associated Press.
03:16AP.
03:17AP.
03:18All right.
03:19You've been a critic of the Academy, you know, for some years.
03:24How do you feel about the progression of black filmmakers, you know, after this year?
03:29Here's the thing.
03:30Without April Green, April Reign, excuse me.
03:35Without April Reign, hashtag Oscar So White, and the former president of the Academy Award of Motion Picture Sciences, Sherwin Isaacs, I wouldn't be here tonight.
03:46They opened up the Academy to make the Academy look more like America.
03:50It's more diverse.
03:51So that's why three black women, if I counted correctly, won Oscars.
03:56That would not have happened without Oscar So White and Cheryl Boone Isaacs.
04:00Facts.
04:01Like my brother Jay-Z says, facts.
04:03We're going to go to 146 and then over here to 18.
04:07Hey, congrats.
04:08Spike over here to your left.
04:10Stephanie Frederick.
04:11Hey, how you doing?
04:12Congrats.
04:14That reaction we saw of you and Samuel L. Jackson, walk us through that just a little bit.
04:19Talk about that moment.
04:21Well, first of all, Samuel L. Jackson and I went to the same college.
04:27Went to Morehouse College.
04:28So I've known Sam from way, way, way back.
04:31He was in my school days.
04:33So we were very close, our families.
04:36And for him, my brother Samuel L. Jackson, to open up an envelope and say my name, it was a great thing.
04:48And did I jump up on him?
04:51You did.
04:52Yes, you did.
04:53Let me take another sip.
04:57That was all love.
04:58That was a genuine, genuine reaction.
05:03And my co-writers, look, it's not just me.
05:09The people in front of the camera and behind the camera.
05:12And I was just...
05:13Here's the thing, though.
05:14I had two speeches.
05:16Now, I'm going to call this...
05:17I'm keeping it 100.
05:18That means I'm keeping it real for those who don't live in Brooklyn, New York.
05:21100.
05:23Had two speeches.
05:24One with the list of the people I was going to thank.
05:27And the other one was what you heard me say.
05:30So I said to myself,
05:33Soph, you're black as not be up here again.
05:37So let me go off the speech and read the one with the thanks.
05:44So I apologize for the people I didn't get a chance to think.
05:50I didn't get a chance to thank.
05:52We're going to go over to 18 and then back to 250.
05:55Yes.
05:56Right here, Spike.
05:57Yes.
05:58So, a lot of us have been with you since Do The Right Thing, Malcolm X.
06:02Yay.
06:03It feels good today.
06:04From back in the day.
06:05Back in the day.
06:06But I have a different kind of question.
06:08You mentioned David Duke, the whole thing.
06:11You think he's watched the movie.
06:13And if he has or if he hasn't, what's your message to him?
06:16No, he told...
06:17David Duke told Ron Staroff you saw the film.
06:20What do you have to say to him?
06:24We're going to go back to 250 and then to 55.
06:32Back here, Lopakazo Sandoval, New York, Amsterdam News.
06:36Amsterdam News.
06:37Yes.
06:38Hey, hey.
06:39Historic.
06:40And I'm in this room because of Cheryl Boon Isaacs, FYI.
06:42So I was interviewing Robbie Reed and she helped me compose this question.
06:46She told me that she was part of your A-Team and she told me it was a real
06:49beautiful interview, what it was like in the early days.
06:52And so the question is, Spike, what keeps you motivated after all this work?
07:00Well, I'm one of the blessed people in the world who gets to make a living doing what
07:06they love.
07:07It's simple.
07:09Most people go to their grave having worked the job they hated.
07:12That's it.
07:17We're going to go to 55 and then we're going to wrap it up with 23.
07:21Yes.
07:22Yes.
07:23Hi, Spike.
07:24How you doing?
07:25First of all, I'm born and raised in Minnesota.
07:26I love your Prince outfit tonight.
07:28It's a homage.
07:29Your homage, yes.
07:30It's a homage.
07:31Obviously a lot said about do the right thing in 89.
07:36How have you changed, do you think, as a filmmaker?
07:39If you made that film today, how might it be different?
07:42Or if you made Black Panther in 89?
07:43I really, I do not answer hypothetical questions.
07:48The film was made when it was made.
07:51But the thing is, the film, I wrote that in 88.
07:54In 88 I was talking about gentrification.
07:57In 88 I was talking about global warming.
08:02And that stuff, June 30, this year will be the third anniversary of do the right thing.
08:07And all the stuff we talked in that film is still relevant today.
08:12And we're going to wrap it up with 23.
08:15Right back here, Spike Tanya Hart.
08:17I told you you were going to win that one.
08:18How you doing?
08:19Didn't I?
08:20Yes, you did.
08:21You called it.
08:23Congratulations, though.
08:24Thank you very much.
08:25So deserved.
08:26So how has this film changed society?
08:30Because a lot of people did not realize that the Klan was still around.
08:34They didn't know when this film came out.
08:36They sort of know now, after last week and the week before.
08:39But how has this changed society?
08:43Well, that's a hard question for me to answer.
08:46But I do know that the coda of this film, where we saw homegrown, red, white, and blue terrorism.
09:00Heather Hare, her murder was an American terrorist act.
09:05When that car drove down that crowded street in Charleston, Virginia,
09:12and the President of the United States did not refute, did not denounce the Klan, the alt-right, and neo-Nazis.
09:25And this film, whether we won Best Picture or not, this film will stand the test of time, being on the right side of history.
09:42Thanks.
09:442
10:00For more than 4
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