Spike walks over Green Book gong

Director’s fury at ‘race row’ movie win

PRICKLY movie director Spike Lee stormed out of the Oscars in disgust after losing the Academy Award for Best Picture to Green Book.

Lee, whose film Blackkklansman had been up for the top prize, got to his feet and threw his hands in the air when the winner was revealed. He then headed to the exit of the Dolby Theatre as the cast and crew of Green

Book collected their gong, but was told by security he could not leave the venue.

Lee, 61, then went backstage, where he blasted the

Academy. The New York

Knicks basketball fan said: “I thought it was courtside at the Garden [Madison Square Garden, the team’s home stadium], and the ref made a bad call.”

Green Book is based on the true story of the black pianist Dr Don Shirley and the white driver, Tony Vallelonga, he hired during a Deep South tour in 1962. It shows Vallelonga overcome his initial prejudice as he befriends Dr Shirley.

But Dr Shirley’s family called the film a “symphony of lies”, denying the pair were close. And Lee said the film’s win reminded him of another time he missed out on an Oscar.

In 1990, his film Do the Right Thing lost in the Best Screenplay category, the year Driving Miss Daisy – about the relationship between a black chauffeur and his white employer – took the prize for Best Adapted Screenplay.

Lee said: “Every time somebody is driving somebody, I lose. But they changed the seating arrangement.”

Earlier, Green Book star Mahershala Ali won Best Supporting Actor and Lee took the Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar for Blackkklansman, about a black police officer who infiltrated the KKK. Lee’s speech was seen as a call to oust US leader Donald Trump in the 2020 president election.

Lee said: “Let’s all mobilise… Make the moral choice between love versus hate. Let’s do the right thing.”

Trump accused Lee of a “racist hit”, adding he had “done more for African Americans than almost any other Pres”.