Spike Lee Speaks at Annual ASU Delivering Democracy Event, Awarded ASU Gammage Award of Courage
Film industry legend Spike Lee visited Pilgrim Rest Baptist Church on March 1, 2025 for ASU’s annual Delivering Democracy event.
Lois Brown, the Director of the ASU Center for the Study of Race and Democracy, emceed the discussion, which was filled with insights from Lee’s career.
The event began with a video highlighting Spike Lee’s early life. It showed his upbringing in Brooklyn, NY, where he was raised by his parents, and his time at Morehouse College, where he initially had no plans to pursue filmmaking.
After he found his passion in the industry, he attended NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts, earning a Master of Fine Arts in film and television in 1982. He remains a tenured professor there today. He recalls that he didn’t have much money, but he desperately wanted to learn how to make films.
“I found something I wanted to do,” Lee said. “I want to repeat that now. I found something I wanted to do, and it’s a blessing.”
Lee’s career consists of many blockbuster films, Do the Right Thing (1989), Jungle Fever (1991), Malcolm X (1992), and many other known films. However, despite his success, it wasn’t always easy to secure the funding for these blockbuster films.
For Malcolm X, Lee had to rely on some well-known connections like Oprah Winfrey, Bill Cosby, Michael Jordan, and Magic Johnson to secure funding.
“I just let it slip how much Magic gave me, knowing (Jordan’s) middle name was money. And boom, he said, ‘I got you.”
He also spoke about his relationship with Denzel Washington, the star of Malcolm X (1992), and the dedication required to prepare for the role. Washington spent over a year to embody Malcolm’s spirit for this role.
During the shooting of this film, Lee remembers a time where Washington mistakenly went off script, but he described it as “the spirit of Malcolm X.”
“The cast and crew were pinching themselves because we were seeing the transformation right before our eyes,” Lee said.
As the event wrapped up, Lee shared some advice for the younger generation.
“This is for the young folks. Listen to Uncle Spike,” he said. “To deliver performances like that, you can’t just show up. You have to put in the work.”
Lee’s time in the film industry is far from finished. He promoted his upcoming A24 film, Highest 2 Lowest, set to come out this summer starring ASAP Rocky and his longtime friend, Denzel Washington. He plugged this move multiple times during the discussion.
At the end of the event, Colleen Jennings-Roggensack, Vice President of Cultural Affairs at Arizona State University and Executive Director of ASU Gammage, awarded Lee the 2025 ASU Gammage Award of Courage.
Architects of Change Honorees are:
Cloves Campbell II
Matthew Earl Jones
Linda Williams
Jeffrey B. Guldner
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