Spike Lee wins his first Oscar ever for BlacKkKlansman's screenplay
It's about time: Spike Lee has finally won an Academy Award.
Lee took home the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay on Sunday for BlacKkKlansman. He wrote the movie, which was based on the book by Ron Stallworth, with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, and Kevin Willmott.
Believe it or not, this is Lee's first Oscar win, although he did receive an Honorary Award in 2016. Lee was first nominated in 1990 for his Do the Right Thing screenplay, but he was shockingly snubbed for Best Director for that film, which also controversially did not receive a Best Picture nomination.
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Between the release of Do the Right Thing and BlacKkKlansman, Lee only received one additional Oscar nomination, as his documentary 4 Little Girls was nominated for Best Documentary Feature in 1998.
Lee earned his first Best Director nomination this year for BlacKkKlansman, which is also the first film of his to receive a Best Picture nomination. In his acceptance speech, Lee urged voters ahead of the 2020 presidential election, "Let's all mobilize. Let's be on the right side of history. Make the moral choice between love and hate. Let's do the right thing."
