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WHY SPIKE LEE'S GAY CHARACTERS ARE PROBLEMATIC
Spike Lee’s 1988 sophomore feature took a cril look at Historilly Black Colleg & Universi (HBCUs), revealg their bety and plexy a where Black fac were an afterthought a natn built on slavery and whe supremacy, the importance of HBCUs nnot be overstated. After beg lled out for homophobia his classic film School Daze, on Twter Monday eveng, legendary filmmaker Spike Lee vigoroly fend his work and lled the cricism “off. So should have e as no surprise that Anti-Intellect’s suggtn that his film was not only homophobic, but accurate, led to a brief, tense exchange.
While is te that Lee’s 1996 Get On The B clearly striv to normalize homosexualy and pict wh the digny, Anti-Intellect’s thly-veiled suggtn that Lee may harbor homophobic tennci which manift his films is not whout precent, most notably tackled Marlon Riggs 1989 film, Tongu Untied, which tak Lee and School Daze to task for s unfettered homoaggrsn. “There were some people who got mad at me bee I had characters my films who were homophobic. But jt bee I have a character a film who’s homophobic, that don’t mean I’m homophobic, ” Lee said.
While this is admirable, as wh most heterosexual men acced of harborg homophobic thoughts, Lee seems to be much more fortable discsg lbian, Black women as opposed to gay, Black men. In a 2004 terview wh Richard Knight, Jr., Lee, while nyg that he is homophobic, proceeds to make statements filled to the brim wh homoanxiety:.