SPIKE LEE - LEE QUESTIONS CLOONEY'S ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Director SPIKE LEE has criticised GEORGE CLOONEY for highlighting GONE WITH THE WIND actress HATTIE MCDANIEL's Oscar triumph in 1933 as an example of Hollywood's "forward-thinking". While accepting his Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor earlier this month (05MAR06), Clooney fired back at critics who claim Hollywood is out of touch by citing MCDaniel's win. Lee says, "To use that as an example of how progressive Hollywood is is ridiculous. Hattie MCDaniel played MAMMY in Gone With the Wind. "That film was basically saying that the wrong side won the Civil War and that black people should still be enslaved. "C'mon! I like George a lot. I'm not hating on him. But I don't think he really thought it out. "How many years was it between Hattie MCDaniel and HALLE BERRY (winning an acting Oscar)? Sixty-some-odd? C'mon!"