Spike Leeʼs Tribute to Prince at the Oscars

2/25/2019 Spike Lee’s Tribute to Prince at the Oscars - The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/24/style/prince-symbol-spike-lee-oscars-gold-jordans.html 1/3
Spike Lees Prince-symbol necklace is gold, framed in diamonds with an opal, and his gold Jordans were commissioned by Michael Jordan.
By Jonah Engel Bromwich
Feb. 24, 2019
The day that Prince died in April 2016, Spike Lee threw a celebration of his friend’s life. On a brick townhouse-lined
street in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, hundreds of people gathered in the street, as Mr. Lee blasted song after song from
the steps of his building. He played deep cuts and greatest hits, as neighbors wept and sang along into the night.
Nearly three years later, Mr. Lee is honoring Prince Rogers Nelson again, bringing a man he calls his brother into
the spotlight as he celebrates his movie “BlacKkKlansman.”
On the Academy Awards red carpet, Mr. Lee wore a custom-made gold, diamond and opal necklace in the form of the
symbol Prince adopted as his name. It was made by the jewelry designer Amedeo Scognamiglio, and was paired
with an all-purple Ozwald Boateng suit and gold Jordans made by Tinker Hatfield (and commissioned for Mr. Lee by
Michael Jordan himself).
“I told Ozwald to make my pants high-waters so they see the Jordans,” Mr. Lee said in an interview a few days
before the Oscars, in remarks adorned by profanity and punctuated by excited laughter. “I don’t care what nobody’s
wearing. I win the Oscar on the red carpet. Men, women, I don’t care if they’re wearing 15-inch heels. They can’t be
Spike Lees Tribute to Prince at the Oscars
Mr. Lee on the red carpet. Monica Almeida for The New York Times
Exhibit K
messing with the Jordans I’m going to be wearing. I’m going to be as clean as the board of health. I’m going to be
sharp as a razor.”
Mr. Scognamiglio first met Mr. Lee about a year ago and the two have become friends; the director can often be seen
sporting the artisan’s oversized jewelry.
“My business partner and I, we like to design very chunky pieces, big looks,” Mr. Scognamiglio said. “We don’t do
dainty.”
Still, when he was making Mr. Lee’s necklace — the outsized 18-carat gold pendant is framed in diamonds, and has a
17-carat fire opal at its center — he thought it might be running too big. He called the director to ask his opinion.
“Make it bigger,” he said Mr. Lee said. “Make it bigger.”
Mr. Lee and Prince first met when the musician, impressed by the director’s 1986 debut feature film, “She’s Gotta
Have it,” flew him out to Paisley Park in Minnesota, around the time that Prince was working on the film “Graffiti
Bridge.” There was an immediate sense of understanding between the two men. They remained close, despite not
seeing each other very often.
“It might be six, eight months before we talked but when we talked it was like, we see each other,” Mr. Lee said.
The last time he saw his friend was after a performance of the musical “Hamilton,” Mr. Lee’s seventh time seeing it.
After the show, Mr. Lee said he went backstage and cast members told him that they were going to an after-party
hosted by Prince.
“It was a book party, so he invited the whole cast of Hamilton,’” Mr. Lee said of Prince. “So I get there and it’s just
him and a D.J. And Damaris Lewis, who was dancing. And that was the last time I saw him. We sat and talked like
an hour and then he got up on stage and played for like another two hours and he was giving me shout-outs on stage,
stuff like that.”
Mr. Lee believes that the musician’s spirit helped him to find the version of “Mary Don’t You Weep,” sung by Prince,
that plays at the end of “BlacKkKlansman,” as scenes from the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, Va.,
conclude the film. (The film represents the director’s first chance to win an Academy Award for either Best Picture
or Best Director.)
The song was recovered by Troy Carter, a friend of Mr. Lee’s who is an adviser to the Prince estate (and who also
used to manage Lady Gaga). Mr. Carter called Mr. Lee and told him that among the thousands of disorganized
cassettes that the musician had left behind, one had been found that featured just Prince and a piano.
“I said to myself, this is it,” Mr. Lee said. “What could be more fitting than to have a Negro spiritual sung by Prince,
just him and the piano in this movie.”
He does not think that finding the tape was a coincidence.
“It was not a mistake,” he said. “Prince wanted me to have that song in BlacKkKlansman. People can say I’m crazy,
smoking crack, which I don’t. Or eating the mushrooms, which I don’t. I’m telling you, on my mother’s grave, he
wanted me to have this song.”
Jonah Bromwich is based in New York. He writes for the Style section. @jonesieman
Exhibit K
https://www.eonline.com/news/1017517/spike-lee-explains-his-fashionable-tribute-to-prince-on-2019-oscars-red-carpet 1/4
Spike Lee is paying tribute to Prince at the 2019 Oscars.
Before the rst awards were handed out Sunday night inside the Dolby Theatre, the
BlacKkKlansman director walked the red carpet in a look that turned heads for all the right
reasons.
When appearing on Live From the Red Carpet , Spike explained how his ensemble was a tribute
to the late music superstar.
"This is an Ozwald Boateng suit and Michael Jordan commissioned the greatest sneaker
designer ever to makes these gold Jordan 3's," he shared with E! News' Ryan Seacrest. "One
last thing. My brother Prince. The end credit for this lm, Prince is singing 'Mary Don't You
Weep.'"
As for the purple suit, any Prince fan understands the power of that color. Spike also wore a
custom-made gold, diamond and opal necklace in the singer's trademark shape.
EXCLUSIVE!
Spike Lee Explains His Fashionable Tribute to Prince on 2019 Oscars Red Carpet by MIKE VULPO | Sun., Feb. 24, 2019 4:14 PM
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Tonight may just be a huge night for Spike who is nominated for Best Director thanks to
BlacKkKlansman . When asked about the recognition, the 61-year-old couldn't help but express
his hopes that it happened earlier.
"It should have happened before but…" he
explained before Ryan asked if it was water
under the bridge.
laughing. "Maybe a trickle, maybe a tear
drop."
Win or lose, Spike is condent that the lm
will be praised for years and years to come.
In fact, he couldn't help but think of another
movie that didn't win a trophy but won with
fans and critics alike.
"I think this lm is on the right side of history, so I don't need an Oscar to validate it," he shared.
"That would be nice but for example, this coming year will be the 30th anniversary of Do the
Right Thing . The fact that that lm did not win an Oscar has not hurt that lm so I think it will be
the same case with this lm."
And for those who didn't notice, Spike showed off two large knuckle rings—one emblazoned
with "LOVE" and the other with "HATE." They were props in Do the Right Thing .
For a recap of the 2019 Oscars, watch E! News tonight at 7 p.m.!
Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP
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Spike Leeʼs Tribute to Prince at the Oscars