Spike Lee is pleased that David Duke is worried about his portrayal in ‘BlacKkKlansman’
It appears that former leader of the Ku Klux Klan, David Duke, has some thoughts about his portrayal in Spike Lee’s upcoming film BlacKkKlansman.
The film is based on the true story of black detective Ron Stallworth, who infiltrated the hate group and talked with Duke in the 1970s.
He and director Spike Lee were interviewed on NBC Nightly News Monday. Lee happily prompted Stallworth to reveal to Lester Holt the “latest development.” Stallworth laughed and said, “The latest development was I got a phone call yesterday from David Duke.”
Lee laughed as Stallworth continued. “He wanted to talk about the fact that he’s concerned about how he’s going to be portrayed in this film. He complimented Spike. He said, ‘I’ve always respected Spike Lee,’ which surprised the heck out of me.”
Topher Grace, who plays Duke in the film, was interviewed Tuesday morning on the Today show. He said Duke’s demeanor, such as his ability to compliment Spike Lee, is one of his most dangerous qualities. “This is what’s so evil about him and continues to be so evil about him, is that he, at this period of time in the ’70s, put a new face on racism. He kind of rebranded it and made it more palatable. So kind of the nicer he is, I always felt like that made him more evil.”
The actor, who said he would never want to speak to the former leader of the KKK, reacted to Duke’s concern that he might be seen negatively in the film, saying, “Too late now, buddy.”
Stallworth, the real-life cop behind “BlacKkKlansman,” still keeps his KKK membership card on him.
Read more from Yahoo Entertainment:
