Spike Lee Addresses Boots Riley's Critique of 'BlacKkKlansman' | THR News - video Dailymotion

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Riley slammed the prolific director for his portrayal of police in the 1970s-set film about an African-American cop who infiltrates a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.

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00:00Spike Lee is responding to Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley's criticism of his

00:04new film, Black Klansman.

00:06In the film, Lee tells the true story of African American police officer Ron Stallworth, played

00:11by John David Washington, who helped expose the KKK.

00:15Adam Driver plays his friend and partner Flip Zimmerman, a white policeman who assisted

00:20Ron in his undercover mission.

00:21Last week, Riley posted a three-page essay on social media that criticized Lee's portrayal

00:27of police, calling the film a made-up story, Riley wrote in his letter.

00:31For Spike to come out with a movie where story points are fabricated in order to make Black

00:36Kopp and his counterparts look like allies, and the fight against racism is really disappointing,

00:42to put it very mildly.

00:44Riley acknowledged Lee's huge influence on him throughout his career, but said,

00:48I'm not gonna hold my tongue.

00:50In a recent interview with UK's Times, when asked about Riley's comments, Lee said that

00:54he is done engaging in public feuds, adding,

00:58When I get a hint that this stuff is maybe going to dilute the message of my film, I know

01:02it is not going to do my any good to comment.

01:05Pressed further on Riley's assertion that Lee's on-screen representation of the police

01:09force in the 70s is inaccurate, Lee said, well, I'm not gonna comment on that.

01:14But he went on to say,

01:16Look at my films, they've been very critical of the police, but, on the other hand, I'm

01:20not going to say all police are corrupt, that all police hate people of color.

01:24I'm not going to say that.

01:25I mean, we need police.

01:27Now, to read more on this story, you can head over to THR.com.

01:30For The Hollywood Reporter News, I'm Brian Parica.

Spike Lee Addresses Boots Riley's Critique of 'BlacKkKlansman' | THR News

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