. They consider themselves superior to others because of their white skin, and we should not sleep on that.”“I also would like them to take away the fact that Spike Lee brings Stallworth’s extraordinary story to the screen—but how closely does the film hew to real history?From the awards race to the box office, with everything in between: get the entertainment industry's must-read newsletter.Spike Lee Wants Donald Trump to Hear Him Loud and Clear: “Wake the F--k Up!”Laura Harrier Doesn’t Blame Spike Lee for Interrupting Her VacationJohn David Washington as Ron Stallworth; Stallworth at the Left, courtesy of Focus Features; right, by Gary Gershoff/WireImage. The first meetup between white Ron Stallworth and the K.K.K., as in the movie, took place outside a convenience store—where Chuck was directed to get in a car with the K.K.K. There was, however, no climactic bomb attack foiled by Stallworth; this was a fictional flourish from screenwriters Lee, The photo session happened exactly as it does in the film—with Stallworth’s white proxy taking the photo. He had a few questions here and there, which I provided,” Stallworth said. Even as Stallworth was living this case in the late 1970s, the detective had an inkling that he might one day need concrete evidence of his K.K.K. Klan was really doing great.
Weird & WackyWe use cookies to personalise content and ads, to provide social media features and to analyse our traffic. When the photo was about to be snapped, black Ron Stallworth wrapped an arm around Duke and another Klansman. Duke” and say it looked like the Asked what he hopes audiences take away from his story, reimagined by Lee, when it arrives in theaters, Stallworth said this: “I hope they recognize that racism is alive and well, that the Klan has never gone. praise him. Sometimes my conversations with David Duke were light, personal It’s the whole white-supremacist movement, no matter what they call themselves—be it Klan, Nazis, alt-right, skinheads—the basic ideology is the same.
As is depicted in the movie, Stallworth’s investigation also uncovered two K.K.K. The Incredible True Story Behind Spike Lee's New Film, 'BlacKkKlansman'. Both officers were consequently reassigned. chapter—so a different officer “played” Ron over the phone.“Only once in the entire seven months of the investigation was I ever challenged as to why my voice sounded different than Chuck’s,” Stallworth told Stallworth and his cohort had several crucial objectives when undercover: extract as much information from K.K.K. point of contact and travel to a second location, which ended up being a dive bar.In real life, it was not just Ron and Chuck who played the role of “Ron.” On at least one occasion, neither Ron nor Chuck were available to take a call from the local K.K.K. I’d always call him “Mr. Lee has said, referring to the comedian’s 2003 sketch about Clayton Bigsby, the “black white supremacist.” But Stallworth’s extraordinary 2014 memoir confirms that the … The new Spike Lee film (sorry, "joint") "BlacKkKlansman" starring John David Washington, won the Grand Prix at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival for its gripping and entertaining retelling of a little-known chapter of black history, when a black Colorado Springs police officer, Ron Stallworth, infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan so deeply that he was asked to lead a local chapter. Sadly, Stallworth has lost the Polaroid photo—yet he After Duke left Colorado Springs, the real Stallworth couldn’t help himself from asking Duke during their next phone call whether anything surprised him about the visit. We also share information about your use of our site with our social media, advertising and analytics partners who may combine it with other information that you’ve provided to them or that they’ve collected from your use of their services. for, and he was very enthusiastic about meeting with me.”Because of Chuck’s other undercover assignments, he was not available often—so most of Stallworth’s investigation was conducted over the phone. Spike Lee rewrote the ending of the film after Charlottesville (Photo: Netflix) When director Spike Lee first heard about Ron Stallwort – … We were amazed by what we saw, and we were shocked by what we saw, and we had no words to describe what we saw once it was over with. Ron Stallworth (right) and John David Washington (who plays him in the movie 'BlaKkKlansman') attend the after-party for the film's premiere on Aug. 8, 2018, in Beverly Hills. black guy and it offended me that his black hands had touched her And the detective could not help but bait the “Grand Wizard” on occasion—asking him, as his character does in the film, “if he was ever concerned about some smart-aleck ‘nigger’ calling him while pretending to be white.” Duke responded by saying, “I can tell that you’re white because you don’t talk like a black man,” Stallworth recalled to Stallworth also eventually joined forces with the local director of the Anti-Defamation League, to trade information on the K.K.K. discussions about his wife, Stallworth also communicated with Duke on behalf of agencies who were not permitted to do so. BlacKkKlansman, Spike Lee’s latest film, tells the tale of a black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan between 1978 and 1979.