Spike Lee Rips 'Django Unchained': Quentin Tarantino Movie 'Disrespectful To My Ancestors'

By Howard Koplowitz | December 25 2012 11:12 AM

Director Spike Lee won’t be rooting for “Django Unchained” at the 2013 Golden Globes, let alone see the Quentin Tarantino film, after he ripped the movie for being disrespectful to African-Americans and the history of slavery.

Reuters

Director Spike Lee won’t be rooting for “Django Unchained” at the 2013 Golden Globes, let alone see the Quentin Tarantino film, after he ripped the film for being disrespectful to African Americans and slavery.

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Last week, Lee tweeted about "Django": “American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western.It Was A Holocaust.My Ancestors Are Slaves.Stolen From Africa.I Will Honor Them.”

Vibe magazine asked the "Malcolm X" director about “Django Unchained,” which has been compared to Tarantino’s last film, “Inglorious Basterds” for its violence and fantasy sstory about a minority group's revenge on its oppressors.

“I can’t speak on it ‘cause I’m not going to see it,” Lee told the magazine. “"All I'm going to say is that it's disrespectful to my ancestors to see that film. I can’t disrespect my ancestors. Now, that’s me. I’m not speaking on behalf of anybody but myself. I can’t do it.”

The film focuses on Django, played by Jamie Foxx, a slave who is auctioned off and sold to a German bounty hunter (Christoph Waltz). The bounty hunter frees Django once the slave kills a dangerous gang. In return for Django killing the gang, the bounty hunter helps him reunite with his wife (Kerry Washington,) who is being held by plantation owner Calvin Candie (Leonardo DiCaprio.)

“Django Unchained” shares similarities with “Inglorious Basterds,” a brutal film about a fictional American team of Nazi hunters in World War II.

Lee’s feud with Tarantino dates back to 1997, when Lee was highly critical of Tarantino’s “Jackie Brown” for excessive use of the “n-word.”

"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,” Lee said at the time, according to TMZ.

“Django Unchained” scored five Golden Globe nominations, including Best Motion Picture – Drama, best supporting actor nods for DiCaprio and Waltz and Tarantino for Best Director and Best Screenplay.

Aside from Lee, the movie has been a hit with critics.

The flick has an 88 percent fresh rating at move rating website Rotten Tomatoes.

Stephen Whitty, film critic for the Newark Star-Ledger, could have been writing about Lee in his review for the Tarantino movie.

“People are bound to read racist overtones into the material, but Tarantino has the consciousness of a 12-year-old boy; there's nothing more to his message here than Slavery Is Bad,” Whitty wrote.