Jamie Foxx takes aim at Spike Lee
Django actor takes exception to the director's comments over his new film
Jamie Foxx has taken aim at Spike Lee after the director spoke out over 'Django Unchained' because of its depiction of slavery.
Lee, who is frequently outspoken on matters of race in cinema, had said that he did not even plan to see the film at all, but still criticised it.
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“I can't speak on it cause I'm not gonna see it,” Lee told Vibe TV. “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.”
The 'Do The Right Thing' director later tweeted: “American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western. It Was A Holocaust. My Ancestors Are Slaves. Stolen From Africa. I Will Honor Them.”
But speaking to the Guardian, Foxx took Lee and his opinions to task.
“The question for me is: where's Spike Lee coming from?” he said. “He didn't like Whoopi Goldberg, he doesn't like Tyler Perry, he doesn't like anybody, I think he's sort of run his course. “I mean, I respect Spike, he's a fantastic director. But he gets a little shady when he's taking shots at his colleagues without looking at the work. To me, that's irresponsible.”
Foxx conceded that while sometimes white people taking on black culture had failed, it often works too.
“You got to look at the individual cases. When Pat Boone covered Little Richard, you think, 'Huh?', he's got no affinity for it. Good Golly Miss Molly? I don't think so.
“But you can't tell me that Eminem ain't hot 'cos he's white or that Elvis Presley isn't a bad motherf***er, or that Quentin Tarantino can't do whatever he likes, 'cos damn straight he can.”