Spike Lee says President Donald Trump’s controversial statement that there were "some very fine people" on both sides of last year’s violent white nationalist protest in Charlottesville, Virginia, will follow him to the grave.
"I just think that his dog whistle stuff has given these people that 'Come out.' They get the signal. That's what happened in Charlottesville," the Oscar-winning director told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview published Wednesday.
"Agent Orange refused to repudiate the Klan, the alt-right and the Nazis. 'There's good people on both sides’ -- That's going to be on his gravestone. He's on the wrong side of history," added Lee, whose nickname for Trump is an apparent reference to his hair color.
Trump denounced bigotry after the Virginia protests, but he also said "very fine people" were on "both sides" of the demonstrations, which drew neo-Nazis, white nationalists and members of the Ku Klux Klan. One woman was killed when a man drove his car into a crowd of counter-protesters.
Lee has made no secret of his dislike for the commander in chief and last month insinuated that the commander in chief should not be associated with his hometown of New York City.
"We ain't claiming Agent Orange, because New York City is about love," Lee said.
Lee, whose films include "Do the Right Thing" and "She’s Gotta Have It," will debut his latest movie "BlacKkKlansman,” starring John David Washington, Adam Driver and Topher Grace, at the Cannes Film Festival on May 14.
It’s the true-life story of Ron Stallworth, an African-American police officer who infiltrates a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and becomes its leader. The film will open in theaters on Aug. 10, the one-year anniversary of the Charlottesville violence.
© 2026 Newsmax. All rights reserved.