SPIKE LEE ATTACKS ALL-WHITE HOLLYWOOD

Outspoken movie-maker SPIKE LEE has attacked the Hollywood studios for not including African-Americans as executives.

The MALCOLM X director is appalled the major studios only recruit white men and women for executive positions.

He tells US style magazine Complex, "You go to any studio, the (only) black guy you are going to see is the guy at the gate. In Hollywood, there is not one African-American who is an executive that has gatekeeper position that could greenlight a picture.

"They'll make a movie with DENZEL (WASHINGTON) and JAMIE (FOXX)and EDDIE (MURPHY), but only because they can make money off them.

"They (studios) might think there's diversity because four white women run studios."

Spike Lee Trivia

Always credits his films as "A Spike Lee Joint".

In Paris, France, in 2003, Lee received an honorary Cesar Award for Lifetime Achievement in the film industry.

He is a big fan and admirer of fellow New York City film director Martin Scorsese.

Lee was particularly appalled at how Scorsese's classic Raging Bull was passed over for the Best Picture Oscar for Ordinary People.

In 2003 Lee sued the Spike TV television network claiming that they were capitalizing on his fame by using his name for their network. The claim was settled out of court.

Lee also appeared in the documentary Hoop Dreams, giving a lecture to young African-American students getting a college sponsorship for their basketball talents.

His production company is 40 Acres & A Mule Filmworks, named after the "40 acres and a mule," that was promised to the freed African American slaves in 1865.
Lee is also famous for directing a series of Nike commercials featuring Michael Jordan, which helped establish Jordan as a highly successful commercial pitchman.

In several of the commercials, Lee also played his alter ego of Mars Blackmon, a character he created for his first major film, She's Gotta Have It.

Lee received death threats, allegedly from the Nation of Islam, over his 1992 biopic Malcolm X. The threats prompted Lee to remove scenes in which the NOI is depicted as plotting the murder of Malcolm X.

He is a well-known and highly visible fan of the NBA's New York Knicks, a team he has supported since childhood. Lee has courtside seats, and had several famous verbal run-ins with Indiana Pacers star Reggie Miller.

On April 5, 2005 after Miller's last game at the Knicks home court Madison Square Garden, Miller and Lee hugged each other.

Lee's sports interests are not limited to basketball. In 2005, he became a season ticketholder for Inter Milan, one of the strongest football (soccer) clubs in Italy and Europe. Lee is also shown at Yankee Stadium with a Yankee hat on.

He has also publicly stated an affection for Arsenal Football Club in London.


Is a fan of Michael Moore's films. Bowling for Columbine was his favorite film of 2002.

Was voted the 48th Greatest Director of all time by Entertainment Weekly.
He was name-checked by Atlanta rappers Dem Franchise Boys in their 2005 single "I Think They Like Me".
Spike was used as a character on an episode of Crank Yankers.