Watch: American filmmaker Spike Lee blasted Donald Trump with expletives at the Cannes Film Festival
‘It was a defining moment, and he could have said to the world, not just the United States, that we were better than that.’
American filmmaker Spike Lee is no admirer of US President Donald Trump. He made that evident in sensational style at the Cannes Film Festival, calling out Trump in an expletive-laden speech for not denouncing the horrific attacks of the Ku Klux Klan in Charlottesville in 2017.
At the Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee unveiled his new film BlacKkKlansman, based on the unlikely true story of a black police officer who managed to infiltrate the KKK. During a press conference Lee said “we have a guy in the White House – I’m not gonna say his name – who defined that moment not just for Americans but the world, and he was given the chance to say we are about love, not hate”.
Lee’s film included a dedication to Heather Heyer, who was run down and killed by a man who drove his car into a group of people protesting against white nationalism in Charlottesville. The film includes footage of the incident. When questioned about it, Lee hurled himself into a impassioned five-minute speech. The video above is only a one-minute clip of from the harangue.