Spike Lee On His Issue With 'Soul Man' (1986) | The Dick Cavett Show

Film Director Spike Lee outlines his issue with the 1986 movie 'Soul Man' in which a white actor depicts a black person with the use of 'black face'

Date aired - 12/2/1986 - Spike Lee

#DickCavett #SpikeLee #SoulMan #TalkShow #Filmmaking #Director

Dick Cavett has been nominated for eleven Emmy awards (the most recent in 2012 for the HBO special, Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again), and won three. Spanning five decades, Dick Cavett’s television career has defined excellence in the interview format. He started at ABC in 1968, and also enjoyed success on PBS, USA, and CNBC.

His most recent television successes were the September 2014 PBS special, Dick Cavett’s Watergate, followed April 2015 by Dick Cavett’s Vietnam. He has appeared in movies, tv specials, tv commercials, and several Broadway plays. He starred in an off-Broadway production ofHellman v. McCarthy in 2014 and reprised the role at Theatre 40 in LA February 2015.

Cavett has published four books beginning with Cavett (1974) and Eye on Cavett (1983), co-authored with Christopher Porterfield. His two recent books -- Talk Show: Confrontations, Pointed Commentary, and Off-Screen Secrets (2010) and Brief Encounters: Conversations, Magic moments, and Assorted Hijinks(October 2014) are both collections of his online opinion column, written for The New York Times since 2007. Additionally, he has written for The New Yorker, TV Guide, Vanity Fair, and elsewhere.

#thedickcavettshow

[connorwilson]

Spike answered all the "Soulman" questions 14 years later with his movie BAMBOOZLED (2000)

[erickthefantabulous]

I didn't realize the Dick cavett show lasted until the eighties Spike Lee you've come a long way man

[strumdynastygaming]

As others have pointed out, every time a black person is on his show, Dick turns into Michael Scott.

[sethmeyer]

it's 2020 and I'm still celebrating the 86 Mets

[ProfOsmo]

You gotta give Dick a lot of credit for uploading things like this. Was he perfect? No. But he tried earnestly to understand his fellow man and you can see him grow over the years.

This is obvious to most fans here, but how great would it be for dick to come back to the game? hed bring such a great vibe to the late night scene.

[happydayz]

How offensive now to be called the black Woody Allen. Back in the day when it seemed like any prominent black person had to be called ‘The Black So-n-so.’

[John-ctzs]

Young Spike Lee handled this with class, and Spike even seemed to realize that Dick Cavett is probably a well meaning white dude but just out of touch with racial politics. Cavett was more a man that simply thought "Segregation is bad! Bigots and KKK are bad!", but he was not a man that understood anything beyond that. It was classy of Spike to give Cavett a way out of the topic before it became too embarrassing and overly tense beyond redemption.

[brycewilson]

love dick cavett. he asked real questions other people were curious about but too scared to ask. sure sometimes he came off awkwardly but i appreciate the conversations!

[christopherharper]

I HATE that! "The Black so and so". They may as well say, "The poor man's..." Spike is SPIKE, one of a kind! My man!! Spike was 29 there!

[mikekock]

Saying that Spike Lee is the black Woody Allen is like saying the Earth is flat.

[SonofStLouis]

There was a real case that an Indian student passed himself as black in-order to get in to some Ivy League university ....and he did

[bizzyrizzy]

Ya gotta understand, Dick is from NE. I am from NE. This is how most from either Lincoln and/or Omaha speak to each other. It’s not condescending in anyway. Dick is coming from a place of endearment. All he is trying to do is to understand Spike. He is speaking the quintessential, dry, inquisitive tone that we Nebraskans all have in some degree.

[barfyman-dmzx]

🤘🤘I'm just over here patiently waiting for 'Soulman 2: Black by Popular Demand' to come out🤘🤘

[christopherharper]

The Golden Age of the Spike Lee joint, miss those days

[bluestate]

Spike Lee is a genius. He is far more than just a "black" director.

[SuperWilliamholmes]

Cousin Larry is like "shit's about to get real!'

[jadezee]

cavett has never appeared at ease discussing racial issues...here spike gives him a way out before he embarrasses himself beyond repair

[jordani]

America needs to learn how to understand anothers opinion without so much hate. we dont have to like the same thing or have the same values, we just have to respect each other as living beings, thats all, evolution will follow. I see no hate or anger from either person. The only thing i dont like is that Spike Lee was invited to talk about his film and it was derailed by questions about another film to open a debate that people secretly want to have especially back then.

[mizzury]

I loved that first movie " She's gotta have it " Great work !

[TSquared]

Wow. Didn't know Cavett was stilll doing his show during this period.