Boots Riley Talks Spike Lee Beef, Regina King Wins Big & More Highlights From The 2019 Independent Spirit Awards

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The Outspoken Filmmaker Sets The Record Straight

While many people were gearing up for the Oscars this weekend, another important night in cinema went down on Saturday with the 34th Independent Spirit Awards.

One of the highlights came from filmmaker Boots Riley whose movie Sorry to Bother You won Best First Feature.

On the red carpet, Boots addressed his very public beef with Spike Lee over his movie BlacKkKlansman. Boots was very critical of the film’s historical aspects and according to him, his critique caused some slightly awkward run-ins with Spike:

“I saw him at the Governor’s Ball, and he yelled at me as he walked away saying, ‘I’m Miles Davis, you’re Chet Baker’ over and over.”

In other words, Spike was aligning himself with one of the most celebrated jazz artists of all time while comparing Boots to his arguably lesser White counterpart Chet Baker.

Luckily, the spicy words didn’t phase Boots too hard. He went on to say:

“And then I saw him at the D.G.A. lunch-in and he was like come here and then, he gave like the one-handed hug and just said ‘squashed?'”

To which Boots replied “squashed.”

Viola.

Peace in the indie streets…

Boots went on to give a moving speech for his Best First Feature win. Hit the next pages to to check out his words, along with acceptance speeches from Regina King, Barry Jenkins, and the people behind If Beale Street Could Talk, which won Best Feature.