Spike Lee hates being called controversial: “It’s not meant as a compliment”
Nobody makes movies – or ‘joints’ – quite like Spike Lee.
His films tap into something incredibly real, be it the grand struggle for civil rights in Malcolm X or the everyday perils of dating in She’s Gotta Have It. His movies are beautiful and bold, both in subject matter and colour palette, and he has rightly become an icon. Some people aren’t so keen, though.
Lee is incredibly outspoken, often on issues of racial representation in Hollywood. He famously challenged Clint Eastwood over the lack of Black soldiers in Flags of Our Fathers—a spat that reportedly took Steven Spielberg’s intervention to resolve.
He has expressed regret over the treatment of women in some of his films, though that hasn’t satisfied everyone. Rosie Perez, who starred in Do the Right Thing, later said she felt uncomfortable filming a nude scene. Lee has also drawn criticism for defending several controversial figures in entertainment, including Woody Allen and Michael Jackson.
Controversy has followed Lee for his entire career and, in many ways, defined it. Some filmmakers may wear this label as a badge of pride, a sign that they had rattled the ‘establishment’ by challenging certain norms. Not him. He despises it. Speaking with Forbes, the bespectacled maestro explained how, ironically, the word ‘controversial’ was itself a source of controversy.
“I never have liked the word ‘controversial’, because to me it’s biased,” he said. “It’s a negative term especially applied to me. ‘Controversial filmmaker Spike Lee, controversial filmmaker Spike Lee,’ I mean I’ve been hearing this, my fourth decade hearing this. And to me, it’s not meant as a compliment…I try to not use one-word labels, it’s just lazy. When you just put one word to a person. Unless you’re talking about Hitler or Mussolini and some other people which I will not mention in this interview.” Uhh, Spike… you just did…
The word has followed Lee since the very beginning and has dogged all of his biggest releases. Malcolm X was riddled with issues pertaining to its subject matter, to the point where the director has said it would never be made today. Nevertheless, it is now regarded as a classic and remains one of Lee’s most important productions.
It’s unclear whether Lee doesn’t like the word in general or just thinks that it’s unfairly applied to him. In an article on the subject, Rough Cut Cinema argues that Lee’s race is a key part of why he is so often described this way. “In another society, another country – one that valued Black lives and prioritized racial justice and equity – Spike Lee would not be contentious,” it theorised. “But in America, Spike Lee is controversial.”
They posit that, in a society that values the lives of Black people matter less and expects them to fulfil certain roles, Lee’s defiance is classic as disobedience.
This is just a theory, but if it’s correct, it plays out like a scene straight from one of Lee’s films. He may not enjoy the label, but as long as he keeps making films that challenge audiences expectations, he will continue to incur the wrath of those who desire a status quo. He probably doesn’t mind that part all that much.
