2021 Golden Globes: Fans react to Spike Lee’s awards snub, despite his children serving as Golden Globe Ambassadors

‘Well, this won’t be awkward at all’

When the 2021 Golden Globe Awards nominations arrived, fans were quick to point out that Spike Lee's acclaimed 2020 film DA 5 BLOODS had been snubbed in all categories.

Fans also noted the awkward nature of the director's children Jackson and Satchel being this year’s Golden Globe Ambassadors, where they'll be handing out trophies and escorting winners offstage. ("Having your kids hand out gold statuettes shouldn’t entitle anyone to nominations, of course. It just makes the omission especially strange," acknowledged The Daily Beast.)

People chimed in on Twitter, with The Hollywood Reporter columnist Scott Feinberg writing, “You know what's going to be awkward? This year's Golden Globe Ambassadors are Jackson Lee and Satchel Lee, the son and daughter of Spike Lee, whose movie DA 5 BLOODS has thus far been completely snubbed – no pic, no director, no Delroy [Lindo], no Chadwick [Boseman], etc.”

“Well, this won't be awkward at all,” said The New York Times writer Kyle Buchanan. “Spike Lee's kids will be Golden Globe ambassadors the same year their dad's movie was brutally snubbed across the board.”

“A very strange move by the hollywood foreign press,” concurred The Daily Beast's Marlow Stern.

“Wait, Spike Lee’s kids are serving as Golden Globes ambassadors this year? Yeah, I’d be ending that nonsense today. It’s an insult,” wrote a fan.

Lee's lack of nominations also comes as something of a surprise for the industry at large, since DA 5 BLOODS had a healthy amount of awards buzz after its release. 

Lee has also historically been under-recognised by high-profile film awards, with the Oscars snubbing Do The Right Thing in favour of Driving Miss Daisy for Best Picture in 1990, and then in 2019, when Lee’s BlacKkKlansman was snubbed in favour of Green Book for the same award.

In an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lee spoke about his feelings around the Oscars buzz for DA 5 BLOODS (the Academy Awards will be held on 25 April, as opposed to the Golden Globes, which air on 28 February 2021).

"It's been very good," Lee said of the attention. “But what [the change] demonstrates is that ... there's a difference in the membership of Academy voters. Very few of the same people voting back for the films that came on 1989 are still voting [now].”