Spike Lee

Spike Lee Calls Beyoncé’s Grammy AOTY Loss “Straight-Up Bullsh*t”

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The 2023 Grammy Awards are behind us, but people are still talking about the wins and losses. It was a monumental night for Beyoncé, who became the most-awarded artist in The Recording Academy’s history. The acclaimed singer earned herself several accolades at this year’s Grammys, but her Album of the Year loss still hits hard for her supporters. Spike Lee recently sat down with The Guardian for an interview, and during the conversation, he shared his thoughts on Bey’s loss to Harry Styles.

“I’m not the male president of the Bey Hive, but I love and support Beyoncé,” said the film icon. “Her album is amazing. I know she’s won multiple Grammys, but four times nominated for album of the year and she’s lost every time? No disrespect to those artists like Adele or Harry Styles who won. It’s not their fault, but that’s some straight-up bullsh*t.”

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: (L-R) Beyoncé and Jay-Z attend the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Kevin Mazur/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Read More: Beyoncé Shares Grammys BTS Video, Dances With Jay-Z & Poses With Trophies

Each year, the Grammys are entangled in controversy due to their choices of winners. Both Beyoncé and her husband Jay-Z have missed out on coveted awards, but they seem to take it all in stride. That is at least publicly. “There’s a history of great black artists who come up for these awards and don’t win,” Lee said. “We all know their work is great because art speaks for itself.”

“But then it always comes down to this tricky territory of validation. Do Black artists say: ‘F*ck it’ – or seek white validation and chase awards? I just want to give a shoutout to my sister Beyoncé. We know what the deal is. It’s straight-up shenanigans, skulduggery, subterfuge. Or as the British say: it’s some poppycock!”

LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA – FEBRUARY 05: Beyoncé accepts Best Dance/Electronic Music Album for “Renaissance” onstage during the 65th GRAMMY Awards at Crypto.com Arena on February 05, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. (Photo by Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for The Recording Academy)
Read More: BBC Apologizes For Calling Viola Davis Beyoncé After Grammys

Ahead of the Grammys, Jay-Z caught up with Elliott Wilson for TIDAL and was asked about Bey’s Album of the Year nomination. At this point in his career, he hopes The Recording Academy doesn’t miss out on awarding artists who spark pivotal movements. “Yeah, I remove myself from the process and hope they just get it right,” said Hov. “It got to the point where I was like, it’s just a marketing thing. You go, you got an album out and it could help the sales go up. It got to that point, but deep down … Again, we grew up idolizing this. It was like one of the pillars for us. It was like, ‘We want to go Gold.’ Yeah, I’ve been in it that long. Haaaaa!”

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Spike Lee & Gersh Agency Launch Atlanta HBCU Fellowship Program

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Spike Lee Says 'I Got Questions' About 9/11 While Promoting Upcoming Documentary

Iconic director and Morehouse alum Spike Lee partners with Gersh Agency to launch the HBCU Fellowship Program in Atlanta, Georgia. The partnership will create more opportunities for students at historically Black colleges and universities.

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“It is with great honor, privilege, and excitement to announce the Spike Fellows in association with my partners The Gersh Agency and the AUCC,” Lee noted in an official statement. “From the jump, from the get-go, I knew when (not if) I opened a crack in the door, I was bringing as many Black and Brown folks with me in front and behind the camera.”

Lee, who has contributed timeless films representative of the Black community from Mo’ Betta Blues and School Daze to She’s Gotta Have It and Do The Right Thing, has teamed up with Gersh for the debut of the Spike Fellows Program, which was created to nurture the innovation of creative talent from four historically Black institutions within the Atlanta University Center Consortium (AUCC): Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College, Morehouse College, and The Morehouse School of Medicine.

The Spike Fellows Program will begin this month with five fellows selected by a panel including Lee, members of the AUCC community, and Gersh management. Led by Gersh’s Head of Culture, Jayson Council, the Spike Fellows Program will provide five graduating students from AUCC academic debt relief, industry mentorship, post-graduate internships, and full-time employment.

As Lee continued on the occasion:

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“I know firsthand the education one receives at a Historically Black College and University. I am who I am because of my grandmother (Zimmie Jackson) and my mother (Jacquelyn Shelton Lee) who both graduated from Spelman College. I am who I am because of my grandfather (Richard Jackson Shelton) and my father (William Lee) who both graduated from Morehouse. It’s on the campuses of Spelman and Morehouse where they met, fell in love, and got married. As my elders often told me, ‘Deeds not words.’

In November 2022, Lee and his wife, Tonya Lewis Lee, joined Spelman College President Dr. Helene Gayle to honor their family’s legacy with the renaming of the College’s Admissions Office in honor of Spike’s grandmother, Zimmie Reatha Shelton, and mother, Jacquelyn Shelton Lee, both of whom were Spelman College alumna from the Class of 1929 and Class of 1951, respectively.

The post Spike Lee & Gersh Agency Launch Atlanta HBCU Fellowship Program appeared first on The Source.

Tyler Perry Defends Madea Character: ‘I Love the Movies That I’ve Done’

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Over the years, Spike Lee has been critical of Tyler Perry’s film and television work, specifically his Madea character.

While sitting with Chris Wallace, Perry is asked about Lee’s 2009 comments stating that the Madea character is “coonery buffoonery.”

“There’s a certain part of our society, especially Black people in the in the culture that, they look down on certain things within the culture,” Perry said. “For me, I love the movies that I’ve done because they are the people that I grew up with that I represent and they, like, my mother would take me in the projects with her on the weekends, she played cards with these women.

“So when someone says, you’re harkening back to a point in our life that we don’t want to talk about or we don’t want the world to see, you’re dismissing the stories of millions and millions of Black people, and that’s why I think it’s been so successful because it resonates with a lot of us who know these women.”

For film fans who wish to see a different style of Tyler Perry’s work. His new film, A Jazzman’s Blues, is now available on Netflix.

Speaking with PEOPLE, Perry reveals it’s the first screenplay he ever penned.

“I wrote it in 1995. It was the first screenplay I ever wrote,” Perry said. “The two characters are just trying to find their own way in the world. Initially, I wanted to play the lead role of Bayou, but that was 1995 — I aged out.”

He added, “I was in Atlanta struggling to make it. I was hungry, sleeping on my cousin’s couch, eventually getting put out and being homeless. I was trying to get my first play off the ground, and this screenplay just poured out of me. I held onto it for all of these years.”

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The film’s synopsis reads:

A sweeping tale of forbidden love, A JAZZMAN’S BLUES unspools forty years of secrets and lies soundtracked by juke joint blues in the deep South. Written, directed and produced by Academy Award honoree Tyler Perry, the film stars Joshua Boone and Solea Pfeiffer as star-crossed lovers Bayou and Leanne alongside an ensemble cast that includes Amirah Vann, Austin Scott, Milauna Jemai Jackson, Brent Antonello, Brad Benedict, Kario Marcel, Lana Young and Ryan Eggold. The film features an original song performed by Ruth B., songs arranged and produced by multi-Grammy winner & two-time Academy Award nominee Terence Blanchard, music by Aaron Zigman and choreography by Debbie Allen.

A trailer has not yet bee released.

The post Tyler Perry Defends Madea Character: ‘I Love the Movies That I’ve Done’ appeared first on The Source.

Chuck D Joins Spike Lee and Colin Kaepernick On Biopic, Signaling A Militant Bend

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Colin Kaepernick

Chuck D announced on social media that he would be featured in a Spike Lee documentary about Colin Kaepernick airing on ESPN.  The involvement of the Public Enemy frontman indicates the film will lean heavily into Colin’s militant and social justice side. Chuck D posed with legendary film director Spike Lee in celebration of being […]

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