Spike Lee Reflects On ‘Do The Right Thing’ At Cannes

Spike Lee made an appearance at the Cannes Film Festival jury press conference on Tuesday, where he reflected on his Do The Right Thing film 32 years after its release.

Deadline reports that Lee pointed out that the film still holds as much significance today as it did when it debuted. The film tackles racism, culminating in one of the film’s characters being killed at the hands of a police officer.

“You would think and hope that 30-something motherf*cking years later that Black people would have stopped being hunted down like animals,” Lee said while mentioning George Floyd and Eric Garner.

Lee made history as the festival’s first Black Competition jury president in its 74-year history. The Cannes Film Festival helped launch his career in 1986 when She’s Got To Have It was screened there. Three years later, he returned with Do The Right Thing.

Chaz Ebert, the wife of late film critic Roger Ebert, revealed her husband had been “appalled” that Do The Right Thing had not won any awards the year it was featured. Ebert even threatened to boycott the festival. Lee noted that Ebert held “a special place in [his] heart for Roger.”