Spike Lee paid homage to the late Prince with his Academy Awards outfit.

Spike Lee

Spike Lee

The 61-year-old director turned heads as he walked the red carpet at Los Angeles' Dolby Theatre on Sunday (24.02.19) in a vivid purple suit, which he accessorised with gold sneakers and a custom-made gold, diamond and opal necklace, which featured the trademark symbol of the 'Diamonds and Pearls' hitmaker - who died from an accidental overdose in April 2016.

Discussing his outfit on E!'s 'Live From the Red Carpet', he explained: "This is an Ozwald Boateng suit and Michael Jordan commissioned the greatest sneaker designer ever to makes these gold Jordan 3's.

"One last thing. My brother Prince. The end credit for this film, Prince is singing 'Mary Don't You Weep'."

While Spike lost out on Best Director to 'Roma's Alfonso Cuaron at the awards, he admitted he felt he should have been shortlisted long before his work on 'BlacKkKlansman'.

He said: "It should have happened before but..."

When host Ryan Seacrest asked if that water under the bridge, he laughed: "Let's not go too far. Maybe a trickle, maybe a tear drop."

And even though he didn't win, the director - who did scoop Best Adapted Screenplay - is confident his movie will be remembered.

He said: "I think this film is on the right side of history, so I don't need an Oscar to validate it.

"That would be nice but for example, this coming year will be the 30th anniversary of 'Do the Right Thing'. The fact that that film did not win an Oscar has not hurt that film so I think it will be the same case with this film."


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