Spike Lee won his first Oscar on Sunday night, but his movie BlacKkKlansman lost Best Picture to Green Book. "This is my sixth glass — and you know why," Lee said as he walked into the backstage interview room, half-full champagne glass in hand. The second question was about whether his Best Original Screenplay win made up for the Academy's snub of his breakout film, Do The Right Thing, in 1990, the year Driving Miss Daisy won Best Picture. "I'm snakebit — I mean, every time someone's driving somebody I lose," Lee said, pulling a face then laughing. "But they changed the seating arrangement. But in '89, I didn't even get nominated, so. This one we did."
Another reporter asked Lee about Green Book's win. "Let me take another sip," he joked. "Next question!" When reminded that after Green Book was announced as Best Picture, he got up and tried to leave the theater, Lee explained, "I thought I was courtside at the Garden and the ref made a bad call," optimistically predicting that the New York Knicks will win next year. "Hailed as a tribute to racial tolerance by its makers and stars, Green Book was also widely criticized by many as an outdated, sentimentalized movie full of racial stereotypes," The Associated Press notes. Watch Lee's press conference below. Peter Weber
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