Spike Lee finally won his first competitive Oscar, and his acceptance speech was a doozy. At Sunday night’s Oscar ceremony, Lee won best adapted screenplay for “BlacKkKlansman” (sharing the award with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott) and walked on stage bursting with energy and emotion. Lee, who had received two previous nominations, for the 1997 documentary “4 Little Girls” and for 1989’s “Do The Right Thing,” started his acceptance speech by ordering the Oscar producers not to turn the clock on. (He used some more choice language and was bleeped.) [Read our analysis of the Oscars ceremony.] The speech that followed touched deeply on black history and exhorted the crowd to get involved in the 2020 presidential election. The word today is “irony.” The date, the 24th. The month, February, which also happens to be the shortest month of the year, which also happens to be Black History month. The year, 2019. The year, 1619. History. Her story. 1619. 2019. 400 years. Four hundred years. Our ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa and bought to Jamestown, Virginia, enslaved. Our ancestors worked the land from can’t see in the morning to can’t see at night. My grandmother, [inaudible], who lived to be 100 years young, who was a Spelman College graduate even though her mother was a slave. My grandmother who saved 50 years of social security checks to put her first grandchild — she called me Spikie-poo — she put me through Morehouse College and N.Y.U. grad film. N.Y.U.! Before the world tonight, I give praise to our ancestors who have built this country into what it is today along with the genocide of its native people. We all connect with our ancestors. We will have love and wisdom regained, we will regain our humanity. It will be a powerful moment. The 2020 presidential election is around the corner. 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. [See the full list of winners.]<doc-sep>Not everyone was happy about “Green Book” winning best picture. According to reports from inside the Dolby Theatre, “BlackKklansman” director Spike Lee was visibly upset by the announcement and tried to leave the ceremony before the speeches had concluded. “I’m snakebit. Every time someone’s driving somebody, I lose,” he later told reporters backstage, in reference to his breakout film, “Do the Right Thing,” losing the Oscar for Best Screenplay to “Driving Miss Daisy” in 1990. “I thought I was court side at the Garden and the refs made a bad call.” After presenter Julia Roberts announced “Green Book” as Best Picture, AP reporter Andrew Dalton was one of several journalists who noticed Lee wave his arms in anger before storming out of the theater. However, before he could leave, he was stopped at the doors and was forced to return to his seat once the speeches had stopped. Jordan Peele, the Oscar-winning writer-director behind last year’s “Get Out,” reportedly didn’t clap either, nor did other attendees nearby. The backlash appears to be in response to controversy surrounding the film, which had been criticized for perpetuating what some saw as a “white savior” narrative approach to examining race relations. The film topped “BlacKkKlansman,” “Roma” and other critical favorites to win the night’s top prize. “Green Book” was also embroiled in controversy involving the family members of the late Don Shirley, whom the film was based on. Previously, Shirley’s nephew, Edwin Shirley III, and brother, Maurice Shirley openly criticized the film in an interview with Shadow And Act, calling its portrayal of Dr. Don Shirley a “Symphony of Lies” – a statement that film star Viggo Mortensen called “unjustified” and “unfair.” Soon after, screenwriter Nick Vallelonga was implicated in yet another controversy when anti-Muslim tweets resurfaced, showing that Vallelonga had previously upheld a false conservative rumor that American Muslims could be seen cheering after 9/11. Vallelonga later apologized for the tweets writing in a statement, “I spent my life trying to bring this story of overcoming differences and finding common ground to the screen and I am incredibly sorry to everyone associated with ‘Green Book.’ I especially deeply apologize to the incredibly brilliant and kind Mahershala Ali and all member of the Muslim faith for the hurt I have caused. I am also sorry to my late father who changed so much from Dr. Shirley’s friendship and I promise this lesson is not lost on me. “Green Book” is a story about love, acceptance and overcoming barriers, and I will do better.” Finally, director Peter Farrelly was embroiled in his own controversy after reports surfaced about how he would regularly flash his penis two decades ago on the sets of films like “There’s Something About Mary.” “True. I was an idiot,” he said in an apology. “I did this decades ago and I thought I was being funny and the truth is I’m embarrassed and it makes me cringe now. I’m deeply sorry.”<doc-sep>On an Oscar night when all eight best picture nominees took home one or more awards, “Green Book” emerged as the big winner, taking the top prize along with wins for its screenplay and for Mahershala Ali’s supporting performance as Dr. Don Shirley, an African-American concert pianist touring the South during segregation. A few of the winning features have yet to debut on streaming services — “Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse” is coming Tuesday, and “If Beale Street Could Talk” and “Vice” follow in successive weeks. But all the others are widely available to watch now. [Read all about the ceremony and the night’s big winners.] ‘Green Book’ Won for: Best picture, original screenplay, supporting actor How to watch: Buy it on iTunes, Amazon, Vudu, Google Play and YouTube. Despite persistent criticism over its “white savior” narrative and storytelling liberties, this warm comedy-drama has appealed to many with its optimistic vision of racial harmony against a hostile backdrop. Ali and Viggo Mortensen have a likable odd couple chemistry as a celebrated African-American pianist and an Italian-American bouncer who escorts him on a concert tour through the segregated Deep South in 1962. One of the writers, Peter Farrelly, has a background in broad comedies like “Kingpin” and “There’s Something about Mary,” which informs the unlikely camaraderie between the two men and buoys the film in its darker stretches. [Read the New York Times review.] ‘Roma’ Won for: director, cinematography, foreign language film How to watch: Stream it on Netflix.<doc-sep>
LOS ANGELES - Spike Lee, the famed director whose “BlacKkKlansman,” was up for the best picture award at the Oscars on Sunday night, appeared to try to storm out of the Dolby Theatre after it was announced that “Green Book" won the award. Lee, a lifelong New York Knicks basketball fan, compared the "Green Book" win to a referee making "the wrong call." LIST OF WINNERS In a stunning move shortly after "Green Book" was announced the winner, the director walked toward the back of the auditorium, according to a reporter for Deadline. He eventually got back to his seat and got into what appeared to be an intense conversation with the writer Jordan Peele. The report said that Lee turned his back to the stage during the speech. "GREEN BOOK" WINS BEST PICTURE Peele, who was sitting behind Lee, also declined to applaud the winner, as did others in the room. “I’m snakebitten," Lee said while backstage. "I mean, every time somebody is driving somebody, I lose. But, they changed the seating arrangement. But, in ’89 I didn’t get nominated, so this one we did." 'GREEN BOOK' SCREENWRITER DELETES TWITTER AFTER OLD TWEETS ABOUT MUSLIMS SPARK BACKLASH Lee's "Do the Right Thing" lost to "Driving Miss Daisy" in 1990. He told New York Magazine years later that "when Driving Miss Motherf—-ing Daisy won Best Picture, that hurt. [But] no one’s talking about "Driving Miss Daisy" now." Lee said he had six glasses of champagne and attempted to make light of his reaction. "Wait a minute, what reaction did you see? What did I do? No, I thought it was courtside at the Garden and the ref made a bad call. Courtside! The world’s most famous arena, Madison Square Garden. Knicks coming back next year." GET THE FOX NEWS APP “Green Book” stars Mahershala Ali as an African-American concert pianist in the 1960s and Viggo Mortensen as his driver. It won three Oscars on Sunday, including best supporting actor for Ali and best original screenplay. 'GREEN BOOK' SCREENWRITER DELETES TWITTER AFTER OLD TWEETS ABOUT MUSLIMS SPARK BACKLASH Hailed as a tribute to racial tolerance by its makers and stars, “Green Book” was also widely criticized by many as an outdated, sentimentalized movie full of racial stereotypes. Lee won earlier for best-adapted screenplay for his white supremacist drama "BlacKkKlansman." The crowd rose in a standing ovation, Lee leapt into the arms of presenter Samuel L. Jackson and even the backstage press room burst into applause. Lee, whose film including footage of President Trump following the violent white supremacist protests in Charlottesville, Va., urged mobilization for the upcoming election. "Let's be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love and hate," said Lee, who was given an honorary Oscar in 2015. "Let's do the right thing! You knew I had to get that in there." Fox News' Julius Young and the Associated Press contributed.