Boots Riley Shows No Mercy When Critiquing Spike Lee & His Movie

Things aren’t looking too pretty in Black filmmaker land.

This year, two summer flicks are getting a lot of attention for their exploration of racism in America — Boots Riley‘s Sorry to Bother You and Spike Lee‘s BlacKkKlansman.

You’d think two Black filmmakers would shine together in the summer light of acclaim, but Boots had to be the voice of critique when it came to Spike’s movie.

Boots tweeted out a detailed document on Friday, explaining why he wasn’t a fan of BlacKkKlansman to say the least. Boots argued that the movie made Ron Stallworth, the real-life Black cop who infiltrated the Klu Klux Klan back in the 70s, seem like a hero.

Boots said BlacKkKlansman made it seem like Stallworth and the police were trying to fight racism when in reality, Stallworth was carrying out racists agendas. Boots said FBI documents suggest Stallworth worked with the FBI’s Cointelpro program to help infiltrated and ultimately sabotage a Black radical group — a group that Boots said, at the very least, was trying to fight racist oppression.

Boots even said that Stallworth’s infiltration of the Klu Klux Klan wasn’t to fight racism, but it was designed to gain more knowledge of a racist organization that could ultimately help law enforcement disrupt Black radical organizing.

You can peep his whole spill below (SPOILER ALERT for those who haven’t seen BlacKkKlansman):

Boots Riley

Ok. Here's are some thoughts on #Blackkklansman. Contains spoilers, so don't read it if you haven't seen it and you don't wanna spoil it.

Boots definitely went in.

And he didn’t stop there.

He finished clarifying his argument with some follow-up tweets that went into Sunday. Hit the next page to read what he had to say.

Boots Riley

I want to make clear that I support changing true stories. I definitely will. The question is- what story do the changes tell? What are you changing that world to say?

Boots Riley

Also- w Stallworth, what we know is he spent at least 3 years infiltrating radical and Black orgs- one of those radical orgs being one that my parents were in- and I was later- called Progressive Labor Party. He consulted w the FBI & talked to them weekly.

Boots Riley

Was the FBI officially called cointelpro by1979? who knows, maybe not, but it was local police and FBI working together to disrupt black radical and radical organizations.

Boots’ criticism holds some weight, considering his consistent political consciousness with his rap group The Coup (formed in the early 90s). Boots also has history as an activist and community organizer in Oakland, which most likely nurtured his political knowledge.

It’ll be interesting to watch Spike responds to this one, if he does at all.

We’ll be on the edge of our seats.