CANNES, France (AP) — In a passionate, expletive-ridden monologue at the Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee has lambasted President Trump over his response to last year's violent white supremacist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia.
Lee told reporters Tuesday that following the events in Charlottesville, Trump had the opportunity to denounce the Ku Klux Klan and the alt-right. Trump had said there was "blame on both sides" in the unrest between neo-Nazi groups and counter-protesters.
The director called Trump's response a "defining moment" for America. The president should have said, Lee insisted, "that we're better than that."
Lee's "BlacKkKlansman" premiered Monday night at Cannes to a rousing standing ovation. The 1979-set film is about a black police detective who helps infiltrate a Ku Klux Klan cell in Colorado. It concludes with actual footage from Charlottesville.
