Spike Lee Talks Bad Religion, Knicks, 'Red Hook Summer'

LOSE SOME, WIN SOME

LOSE SOME

I didn’t grow up in the Black neighborhoods of Brooklyn. The large part of my development, we lived in Cobble Hill, Brooklyn. We got called “nigger” a couple times. Then they figured out there weren’t a hundred other Black families moving behind us.

When She’s Gotta Have It came out, Michele Wallace—a Black feminist—had some things to say. There was no outcry, like, “How can she say that about Spike Lee?” If I say something about Tyler Perry, then I’m the devil. Because he goes to church every Sunday? That’s crazy.

The Jackie Robinson film I haven’t been a part of for almost 10 years, that’s now being made by somebody else. When rights get bought, people want to work with their own. At a point, you have to let it go.

I don’t go to church very often. And if I did, I wouldn’t want to go to a church that used to be a basketball arena. My problem is the “prosperity church.” That’s the oldest trick in the book: God told me to tell you to put money in those buckets for me.

When you have wealth, it’s hard to make your children understand: This doesn’t come out of thin air. Nike made these sneakers called Mags. They’re like $5,000, and my son Jackson wanted them for his birthday. I said, “Negro, please!” Now he wants a pair of Yeezys.