‘Avengers’ Star Samuel L. Jackson Helps Spike Lee Celebrate His Oscars Win

The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences finally did the right thing, and legendary filmmaker Spike Lee got to leave the ceremony with a very well deserved Oscar statue in his hand. While the win after so long was certainly special in its own right, it was made even more so by the fact that the award was presented by Lee’s good friend and collaborator, Samuel L. Jackson.

Jackson presented the award for Best Adapted Screenplay alongside his Captain Marvel co-star, Brie Larson. (Both will also appear in this summer’s Avengers: Endgame.) After the duo read the list of nominees, Larson opened the envelope and Jackson lit up like a Christmas tree. He couldn’t hide his excitement as he announced Lee’s name, along with the three other co-writers of BlacKkKlansman. If you didn’t think Jackson could be any more excited than he was in that moment, you only had to wait a few seconds for him to top it.

When Lee arrived on stage to take his award, he leapt straight into Jackson’s arms, and the two celebrated as only friends could. Check out the short clip of the excitement in the video below.

It’s fitting that Jackson was the one to hand the Oscar to Lee, given that the latter had a big hand in helping get the former’s career off the ground. After a short appearance in Lee’s hit movie Do the Right Thing, Jackson landed a more prominent role in one of his next films, Jungle Fever. In the film he played an addict named Gator, a role that helped launch his career to new heights.

Lee used his acceptance speech to touch on several different issues, including the upcoming presidential election, but to also thank his grandmother who paved the way to his success, despite being the child of a slave.

“Four hundred years. Our ancestors were stolen from Mother Africa and brought to Jamestown, Virginia, enslaved,” Lee said. “Our ancestors worked the land from can’t see in the morning to can’t see at night. My grandmother, who lived to be 100 years young, who was a Spelman College graduate even though her mother was a slave. My grandmother who saved 50 years of social security checks to put her first grandchild – she called my Spikie-poo – she put me through Morehouse College and N.Y.U. grad film. N.Y.U.!”

Were you glad to see Spike Lee finally win his first Oscar? Let us know in the comments!

—–

Have you subscribed to ComicBook Nation, the official Podcast of ComicBook.com yet? Check it out by clicking here or listen below.

In this latest episode, we talk about the retirement of Gwyneth Paltrow from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, our thoughts on Umbrella Academy, what Star Wars shows we want to see on Disney+ & so much more! Make sure to subscribe now and never miss an episode!