Spike Lee wins first competitive Oscar for ‘BlacKkKlansman’

The Oscars 2019 ceremony became a Spike Lee joint on Sunday night, as Lee won the Oscar for best adapted screenplay for BlacKkKlansman, reports Hollywood Reporter.

For adapting Ron Stallworth's 2014 memoir Black Klansman about infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, Lee shares the honor with Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, and Kevin Wilmott. 

Samuel L. Jackson excitedly announced the winner, and Lee jumped into his arms when he reached the stage and the filmmaker went on to give a powerful speech about slavery and racism in the U.S.

The BlacKkKlansman writing foursome was nominated alongside the teams for A Star Is Born (Eric Roth, Will Fetters and Bradley Cooper), The Ballad of Buster Scruggs (Joel Coen and Ethan Coen), If Beale Street Could Talk (Barry Jenkins), and Can You Ever Forgive Me? (Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty).

BlacKkKlansman received six Oscar nominations including best director for Lee, best picture, best supporting actor for Adam Driver, best original score for Terence Blanchard, and best film editing for Barry Alexander Brown.

Lee received an honorary Oscar in 2015, but this is his first competitive win. His first Oscar nod came for his original screenplay of 1990's Do the Right Thing; his second in the best documentary feature category for 1998's 4 Little Girls.