Spike Lee: "Django Unchained" is "disrespectful"
Spike Lee won't be among the movie-goers seeing "Django Unchained" when it arrives in theaters on Christmas Day.
The "Red Hook Summer" director has spoken out against Quentin Tarantino's ultra-violent spaghetti Western-style film about slavery, and says he will not see it.
"I cant speak on it 'cause I'm not gonna see it," he told Vibe magazine. "All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors. That's just me...I'm not speaking on behalf of anybody else."
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Lee reiterated his opinion Saturday in a message posted on Twitter:
As The Hollywood Reporter notes, this is not the first time Lee has been critical of Tarantino. In 1997, following the release of Tarantino's film "Jackie Brown," he reportedly said: "I have a definite problem with Quentin Tarantino's excessive use of the n-word. And let the record state that I never said that he cannot use that word -- I've used that word in many of my films -- but I think something is wrong with him."
"Django Unchained" stars Jamie Foxx as a former slave-turned-bounty hunter who sets out to rescue his wife from a brutal plantation owner. The film also stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Samuel L. Jackson, Christoph Waltz and Kerry Washington. It recently received five Golden Globe nominations, including one for best dramatic picture.