Spike Lee on Blackface: ‘It’s Just Hatred, Pure Hatred,’ ‘Who We Are in America’

RUSH EXCERPT:

LEE: “It's not a good part of American history and came out of vaudeville minstrels, performers, mostly white, would darken up and perform skits and what not, but there was a famous African-American, Burt Williams, who performed in blackface. But as there's a whole, whole -- there's nothing good about it. And I just can't -- and I know you said it earlier, Anderson, but I don't know what's going I mean, don't they understand what this is about? The history that is not funny, that is not hip, it's just -- it's hatred. It's pure hatred. And this is part of who we are in America. We're in the year 2019. And 400 years ago, 1619, the first slaves were brought to Jamestown, Virginia.”