Spike Lee on Trump: He ‘Doesn’t Care About Anyone But Himself’

On CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360 on Monday night, director Spike Lee was asked about Donald Trump’s recent efforts to reach out to black citizens for their vote in the upcoming election. “I don’t think he’s a good person,” said Lee. “I don’t think he cares about anybody but himself.” When Cooper quoted Trump’s stump-speech line to African-Americans — “What do you have to lose?” in voting for him — Lee laughed drily. “How long a segment do you have?” he asked Cooper.

Cooper also asked the director of movies such as Malcolm X and Do the Right Thing about NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick’s decision to decline to stand during the playing of the national anthem as a protest of the way some African-Americans are treated by some police officers.

Lee’s take: “It’s in that tradition of black athletes standing up and using their platform to say, ‘I’m not happy with the way black people, people of color, are being treated.’” Lee and Cooper briefly discussed earlier protests such as John Carlos and Tommie Johnson giving the black-power salute at the 1968 Olympics in Mexico City, and Muhammad Ali’s refusal to be drafted into military service as a protest against the Vietnam War.

At the mention of Ali, Lee became visibly agitated. Everyone proclaimed to love Ali when he died, said Lee, but “this is the biggest revisionist story ever! Muhammad Ali was the most hated person ever” at the time of his draft protest. “Hated!” Cooper echoed Lee, agreeing. “Yes!” bellowed Lee. “People need to do research!”

Cooper quoted the great baseball player Jackie Robinson from 1972: “I cannot stand and sing the anthem. I cannot salute the flag. I know that I am a black man in a white world.”

“What Colin is doing comes out of that tradition,” said Lee. “These brothers do this knowing there will be ramifications and they don’t care, because this is their belief. They always bring up, ‘Oh, you make a lot of money… We pay you money, play ball, shut up.’ So if you make a lot of money, you can’t have a moral foundation?”

Cooper asked Lee if he stands up during the national anthem at sporting events. “Yes, but it’s a personal choice… I also stand up for his right not to do so.”

Anderson Cooper 360 airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on CNN.