"I am honored to be the first person in the African diaspora to be appointed chair of the jury in Cannes and to an important film festival," Lee said in a written statement in which he also emphasized the great importance that the Cannes festival had for his film career.
Already Spike Lee's first film "She's gotta have it" premiered in Cannes where it received a lot of attention and gave him a youth award in 1986. After that, several of his films have premiered there, as well as the latest "BlacKkKlansman" which was about right-wing forces in USA. In several films, Spike Lee has addressed issues of racism and discrimination against blacks, and he has also made no secret of criticism of President Trump.