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Laura Coates Live

No Done Deal Between Iran And U.S.; Oil Prices Drags Everything In Between; War Hurts Everybody; Spike Lee Speaks His Mind Through Films. Aired 11-12a ET

Aired May 01, 2026 - 23:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[23:00:00]

LAURA COATES, CNN HOST: So tonight, Trump tells Congress to take a hike as his war with Iran hits the 60-day mark. Is he about to break the stalemate or dig in even further? Plus, Trump's new spin on the economy as he questions how anyone could be doing badly. And later my special Friday night guest, Spike Lee, on everything from politics in America to A.I. in Hollywood. Tonight, on Laura Coates Live.

My opening statement tonight, President Trump is not budging. No matter how bad his polling gets, no matter how high gas prices go, no matter how much pressure from Congress, it doesn't seem like anything is going to change his path with the war with Iran. And right now, he's getting it from every direction. I mean, 61 percent of Americans see the war as a mistake. We're talking Vietnam-era levels of disapproval.

And look, I get it. It's just one poll. Then there's this one with the exact same 61 percent disapproval. And then this one at 67 percent. You get my drift here. And gas, another new four-year high. A national average of $4.39 a gallon. And today was the biggest one-day jump in last six weeks for Trump and BD.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: When this war ends, gasoline and oil and everything is going to come tumbling down. But right now, as of this moment, the stock market has hit record highs.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: You think if skyrocketing gas prices and dismal polls did not change the calculation, the law might at least force the question. You know, the whole unique congressional approval for a war beyond 60 days thing? It's called the War Powers Resolution. But the president, not worried about that either.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Most people consider it totally unconstitutional. Also, we had a ceasefire, so that gives you additional time. So many presidents, as you know, have gone and exceeded it. It's never been used. It's never been adhered to. And every other president considered it totally unconstitutional. And we agree with that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: OK. So, following that logic, if there is additional time, that means a deal should be on the horizon, right? Except.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Frankly, maybe we're better off not making a deal at all. Do you want to know the truth? Because we can't let this thing go on. Iran wants to make a deal because they have no military left, essentially. And they want to make a deal, but I'm not satisfied. They've made strides, but I'm not sure if they ever get there.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: And if they never get there, then what? This?

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I mean, do we want to go and just blast the hell out of them and finish them forever? Or do we want to try and make a deal? I mean, those are the options.

PETER DOOCY, HOST, FOX NEWS: Do you want to go blast the hell out of them and finish them forever?

TRUMP: I'd prefer not. On a human basis, I'd prefer not, but that's the option.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So, he'd prefer to make a deal but doesn't know if the Iranians will ever get there. And if they don't, he's ready to keep going, even with every warning light that seems to be flashing.

Leading us off tonight, National Security Reporter for The Wall Street Journal, Alex Ward. Also, the founder and executive director of the National Security Institute, Jamil Jaffer. He was actually the lead architect of the Iran Nuclear Agreement Review Act. And we have senior fellow at the Washington Institute and curator of The Iranist on Substack, Holly Dagres.

Good to have both of you, all of you actually here, all three of you.

I'll begin with you here, Jamil, because the president believes that the 60-day limit, the War Powers Resolution, totally unconstitutional. Your perspective?

JAMIL JAFFER, FOUNDER AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NATIONAL SECURITY INSTITUTE: Well, look, every president to have operated under the War Powers Resolution has said that its constitutionality is questionable. They've operated consistent with it, but not pursuant to it.

[23:04:57] So, it's not unusual for presidents to say that and to act in a way that might be at times in tension with it. We saw President Obama in Libya. We saw his State Department legal advisor, Harold Koh, go to Congress and say that the seven, eight, nine-month conflict that we were in wasn't hostilities because they were shooting back. We saw it happen in Somalia. We've seen it in Kosovo.

So, we've seen a number of our presidents have gone past that 60-day deadline and come up with interesting theories about why it didn't violate the War Powers Resolution. The latest one is, apparently, it's like a chess clock. You hit the button. You know, we're on a ceasefire. The clock has stopped. It's not that long of a pause, so we'll see.

COATES: Somebody find Bobby Fischer then. Alex, that's a chess reference. I'm smart. Anyway, Alex, the president appears to be totally unimpressed by the latest offer from Iran. And he is now saying, maybe we're better off not making a deal. Know anything about this?

ALEX WARD, NATIONAL SECURITY REPORTER, THE WALL STREET JOURNAL: We've been here before. Last year, as the president wanted to make a deal over Iran's nuclear work. He tried to make some sort of, there was a negotiation. Trump didn't like what he was hearing. They bombed three Iranian nuclear sites. Then earlier this year, Trump again, another nuclear negotiation, didn't like what he was seeing from the Iranians, started this war.

Now we have the ceasefire. And here we are again, another negotiation. Trump doesn't like what he's hearing and is now saying quite openly, well, let's deal for war. Sounds like deal doesn't look likely. Therefore, there's only one other option in his mind. And this is Trump's playbook. He's like, if you mentioned Bobby Fischer, my reference won't be as smart. Mine is the movie Knocked Up. So, there's the --

COATES: You win. I love it.

WARD: So, there's that scene where Seth Rogen is dancing with Katherine Heigl and he's doing a dice move on the dance floor and his friends go, he's only got one move, that's his move. When it comes to this situation, if the deal doesn't work, Trump has only got one with Iran and that's bombing. So, I think that might be coming. I don't know when, but I think that might be coming.

COATES: I'm sorry you have to follow that because actually I'm done with the whole segment after that. I love it. But you're actually right about this.

And Holly, the president continues to blame dysfunction within the new regime for not reaching a peace deal. Like where does the buck really stop has been the go-to. But how much are they to blame in terms of the inability to reach a deal? And why would Iran make this offer when they know the red line is keeping nuclear material?

HOLLY DAGRES, SENIOR FELLOW, THE WASHINGTON INSTITUTE: Well, I think it's a couple of things there. I think we've seen the Iranians do this before where they're playing games or we've seen that there's these different factions, the hardliners, reformists, and there's been in- fighting equivalent to the Dems and Republicans here in the United States.

But I think that the war itself has complicated matters. We've got the Supreme Leader that I joke probably is going to come out looking like Darth Vader at the end of this because from our understanding of reports, he's not looking so well. Just like unpacking it a step further, I think the issue is that the Trump administration doesn't understand the Islamic Republic, that this is an ideological regime.

We've seen Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei come out this week and double down and say that they're not going to give up their nuclear program or their ballistic missiles. And we've known this for a long time. And it's really, especially ballistic missiles have been their red line because they learned from the Iran-Iraq war, this is the only way that they can defend themselves.

And of course, now having had two wars, there's this understanding that having this option of going all the way with their nuclear program granted in the situation it's in, that I think there's growing voices, especially from hardliners, that they should develop a nuclear weapon to make sure that this doesn't happen again.

COATES: So given what she's described, I mean, the idea that the president's writing to blast the hell out of them, that's his words, if there's no deal. I mean, you had Iranians who spoke to CNN that are saying that they are bracing for strikes to come and expecting it. Can Iranians endure another round?

JAFFER: Well, look, think the regime is going to have a hard time. I think Alex is right that this is a real, there's a real possibility that the velocity of conflict, you know, substantially skyrockets going forward. I mean, there is a real possibility that over the weekend we'll see the president start bombing again, but let's be candid here.

Why would he start bombing? It's simple. The ceasefire is premised on a simple concept. We stop bombing you, you open the strait. The strait hasn't been open for four weeks that we have been bombing. So, look, the Iranians, if the bombing does start again, it's because of their behavior and their activity and their failure to uphold their part of the bargain.

Now the problem for the president is you start bombing again, gas prices are high now, they're going to go higher and higher and higher. The better plays probably try to reopen the straits by escorting ships through and daring the Iranians to come after us and then if they hit us, now you've got a reason to hit back.

COATES: We're asking about the Iranians can endure, but what about the reporting that the recent assessment suggests that there is not the stockpile that is necessary from the United States perspective to maintain what's going on. I there are assessments that say that 50 percent or more of key missiles have been depleted. What is the replacement timeline for that? And frankly, does that

jeopardize the United States' ability to defend itself in other contexts if need be?

[23:10:07]

WARD: Well, that is the fear. So, it could take a lot of years. I mean, the general estimates are about two to six years or so for it to make to fully replace everything that's been spent. Now, a war with China, which is what most people are worried about in this context, would require a lot of standoff missiles. It would require a lot of the munitions that have been used, but it would be a vastly different war.

COATES: In what way?

WARD: Well, I mean, it's more maritime. It's a much bigger adversary. China has nuclear weapons. It's a whole other ballgame. But the general belief of this administration coming in was, and there were many people that were saying this at the Pentagon, there was during the Ukraine debate, the U.S. can't send weapons to Ukraine because we have to (inaudible) those resources for war with China.

And then they've been sent to fight the Houthis last year. They've now been sent in this war. And now there's questions about, OK, well, if the defense industrial base can't make all these weapons in a fast enough time period, then why use them in these areas if the main goal was China? So, the administration's own strategic picture that they came in with is no longer the strategic picture that they're following because there are now deficits to fight China.

When the assessments, the reporting we've done, the general math works out to, well, it would be harder to fight China. Not hard, but harder to fight China based on the current inventory.

COATES: We've heard from Secretary Hegseth just the other day where he thought it was the defeatist attitudes of Democrats that are really the biggest adversary of the United States in this moment. The president is considering anyone, as you know, who says the U.S. is not winning the war with Iran outright treasonous. What's the impact if there is no room for dissent?

JAFFER: Look, I mean, there has to be room for dissent. That's a little the entire premise of the country that we live in, the entire premise of the First Amendment, the entire premise of having TV news shows just like this one. But the fact the matter is that if we are winning on what mentioned, right, the president said we are going to have the Iranian people rise up. Hasn't happened. We are going to destroy their armed forces. Apparently, they're not straight enough to allow ships at the Strait of Hormuz.

We're going to take away their nuclear weapons. Well, somebody forgot about the 440 kilograms or 60 percent of enrich uranium that's still there. We're going to take their ability away to support Hezbollah, Hamas, and Palestine and Islamic Chad. Last time I checked, Hezbollah is fighting Israel right now. So, if we're winning, I'm not sure what metric we're winning on. We

have taken out a significant part of the military, but it's not winning until you achieve a goal you set out. Which of the goals that we've set out have we met today?

COATES: What's Iran's metric?

DAGRES: Well, I think for starters, their metric is the fact that they've survived yet another war is in itself a win. I think that they've also won the narrative war. We won it through their very popular Lego A.I. videos, their Iranian embassy accounts that are posting memes and making fun of the Trump administration in this moment. And through that, they've won the global South and anyone that's anti Trump or anti-war in this moment is sharing those and laughing about that.

And so, they've really managed to win it in a different way. The fact that they've been able to close the Strait of Hormuz, granted they're now in a blockade moment, there's a strangle on the world economy because they started this. So, I think there's measures of wins for them. And to Jamil's point, their proxies are still functioning and there's a lot more to it.

COATES: Thank you all. We'll see what happens in likely the near future.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: The stock market is rocking and rolling. Your 401(k)s are the highest they've ever been. I don't know how the hell you could be doing badly.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Trump pointing to Wall Street to question how people on Main Street could possibly be struggling.

Our favorite economist, Justin Wolfers, has some thoughts on this. He's with me next. And later, my special sit down with Spike Lee on Trump, the Democrats, and the political moment we find ourselves in.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SPIKE LEE, ACADEMY AWARD-WINNING FILMMAKER: It's bananas right now. It's just straight up bananas here and you know where we are politically and in this country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:15:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: President Trump yet again brushed off any concerns about the economic cost of the war. In fact, he thought it would be worse.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I thought the stock market would go down much more. I thought the oil prices would go up much more. I said, but we have no choice whether it does or doesn't. I have to do what's right. We can't let them have a nuclear weapon.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: But the numbers, they tell a different story. You got gas prices up more than 30 cents in a week, up more than a dollar and 40 cents since the war started. And America's largest oil company is warning even higher prices are on the horizon, saying quote, "the market hasn't seen the full impact of the disruption to the oil supply." And that's, by the way, from the CEO of Exxon.

I to bring in our favorite economist, economics and public policy professor at the University of Michigan, Justin Wolfers.

So good to see you, professor. Listen, I mean, Trump says he is surprised that prices are not even higher than what we're seeing right now. But Exxon says the worst is still to come. Tell me, set the record straight. Have we hit the peak of these high prices?

JUSTIN WOLFERS, PROFESSOR, ECONOMICS & PUBLIC POLICY, UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN: There was two ways the war could turn out. It could turn out the way he said it would. Fast, we go in, we win, we get out. World oil markets are back to normal. Iran gets back to normal. America gets back to normal. We promised four to five weeks. What are we at, seven or eight right now? And he appears to have fallen asleep in front of the TV watching this.

[23:20:06]

So that didn't happen. The other thing that could have happened is it could have gone on too long, created too much damage, created sustained damage, and that's what we're in the middle of right now. That's why you're seeing that at the pump. That's why we're seeing very big effects, probably on the U.S. budget. And that's also why you're seeing confidence in the administration and the economy falling.

COATES: But despite the concerns about oil, stocks just ended their best month since, what, 2020? The investor seems to be making money, and I mean hand over foot, Justin. And Trump keeps pointing to this to suggest everything is fine with the economy. Is that the right indicator?

WOLFERS: Well, let's get a little bit of context in there first. Stocks just had a great month because they previously had a terrible month. When it looked like, Trump was going to indulge the worst of his aggressive instincts, when he was going to wipe Iran off the face of the earth, stocks tanked.

And you know the single best way to create a stock market surge? Create the fear of God in everyone that you're a madman and then come out at the other side and say, not quite that crazy and markets are really happy about that, and to be honest, so am I. I'm breathing a little deeper, a little more controlled actually knowing we're not in that business.

The other thing that's going on out there actually is the A.I. boom. It's up to the viewers how much they want to give the president credit for that. But the A.I. boom is pretty much accounted for all of the economic growth the United States has had over the last six months. Strip that out, there's almost nothing going on.

So, for folks at home who see very positive numbers but don't see it in their lives. That's almost all because none of us are working in A.I.

COATES: Well, the president is also saying, insisting really, that prices are going to plummet once the war ends. Listen to what he said.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: It's going to come tumbling down. There is so much oil out there. It's pent up. It's locked up in the Strait of Hormuz. When all of that stuff comes out, you're going to see prices dropping on gasoline like you've never seen. And all of that, electricity, gasoline, anything having to do with energy. Grocery prices are way down, used car prices are way down. Look at eggs. Eggs are down by four, even five times.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Is that immediately going to happen once the strait opens? I thought it was what? Prices up like a rocket, down like a feather.

WOLFERS: My word, you have a deep reading of the economics literature. That's exactly how it goes.

I want to share something for the viewers at home. Anytime a politician takes all of the different commodities in the economy and decides to focus on only one. What does that tell you? If someone wants to talk about eggs, they think eggs are the good story for them. And what that tells you is the narrower the commodity they choose, that then tells you that they must believe not eggs, which by the way is 99.9 percent of the economy, but not egg economy is looking a whole lot more expensive right now and a whole lot more trouble. You could always see that anytime a politician does that.

COATES: Well, they might want to read more from you on that to pivot away from that. But I want to pivot to the national debt for a moment because the U.S. debt to GDP ratio is now above 100 percent. We're spending about a dollar and 33 cents for every dollar the U.S. brings in in revenue. But Trump is saying, here's what said about the debt when he first ran for president in 2016.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: I call myself the king of debt. I'm the king of debt. I'm great with debt. Nobody knows debt better than me. I've made a fortune by using debt. And if things don't work out, I renegotiate the debt. I mean, that's a smart thing, not a stupid thing. I like debt for me. I don't like debt for the country.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: So, from what you're seeing, is he attempting to get the debt under control?

WOLFERS: One thing I like about you, Laura, is you keep your eye on the big picture and the big issues that aren't getting the headlines, but that really matter. And the national debt is absolutely one of them. The initial claim that he was going to get rid of the national debt was a lie and a lie on its face. But I want to hit you with a statistic that I think is just amazing.

The amount we add to the debt each year is called the deficit. The deficit right now, if you look outside of wars and recessions, is as high as it's ever been. Normally we'd run a big deficit if we were trying to help out an economy that was really ailing. And so, the current level of the deficit simply makes no sense given where we are right now. If you spend all the money today, that simply means there's less money in the future or it means tax rises in the future.

COATES: Justin Wolfers, a lot to consider. I'm glad it was you. Thank you so much.

Up next, he has spent his career making films about the fabric of the civil rights movement and tonight he's with me to reflect on the moment we find ourselves in. Spike Lee is next.

[23:25:00]

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: We're going back to the McCarthy era where if you speak out, you know, you lose your job, your livelihood. Is that the American way? Is that the red, white, and blue?

(END VIDEO CLIP)

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COATES: Well, two more states are redrawing the maps, talking about Alabama and Tennessee, and they won't be the last. Brace for a wave of changes after the Supreme Court effectively gutted a key pillar of the Voting Rights Act, Section 2. It's causing fear about whose voices will be heard and whose will be drowned out.

[23:30:01]

Now, few people have challenged America to confront these questions more directly than Oscar-winning filmmaker, actor, producer, writer, professor Spike Lee.

I caught up with him earlier to see how he is grappling with all this. Here's our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) COATES: You're very politically active. You have a lot of opinions. Voting rights is in danger. Section 2 gutted, Supreme Court weighing in. Why do you think the nation is so vulnerable?

LEE: So what?

COATES: Vulnerable.

LEE: There are going to be movies and documentaries about this period in United States of America with this guy in the White House. It's down the block, right? Down the block.

COATES: Down the block.

LEE: But it's not the first time this country has been through stuff and has found a better way to live and we got to work at it. We got to work, got to do the work and let's realize black folks; we got lot of our stuff to the voting.

COATES: Yes.

LEE: Voted. So, it's not, you know what the game plan is so you see this attack on voters. So, we know what they're doing.

COATES: People look to art to inspire them of what could be and a lot of your art focuses on the unfinished stories of America.

LEE: Some of it.

COATES: Some of it. Some of does and it still holds the clock for everyone. I mean, when you're looking at the way America learns from the past, has it? Have we learned anything?

LEE: Well, you know, we move forward and then move back so it's back and forth, back and forth, but I believe in this country. Black folks fought for this country for the jump so we have a right to anybody else to pursue the lives you want to lead.

COATES: What do you think about the Jimmy Kimmel scandal and him being called to get fired?

LEE: I think it's very -- I know it's very dangerous when you speak out. You're threatened to lose your livelihood. I mean, that's, it's dangerous. Are we going back to the McCarthy era where if you speak out, you lose your job, your livelihood? Is that the American way? Is that the red, white, and blue? Is it? Maybe it is. Maybe things have switched up.

COATES: You made headlines in Cannes talking about American values.

LEE: And what I say?

COATES: You know, I'm a real to use that I don't know how much we can talk about American values considering who is president. What values we you thinking of?

LEE: I said that? What I say again?

COATES: You said, I don't know how much we can talk about American values considering who is president. Which values did you mean?

LEE: Well, I think we all know what's right and what's wrong, what shenanigans, skullduggery, another S, subterfuge.

COATES: There wasn't the S I was thinking of, but OK. OK. What about another S, social media? People are blaming social media for the way that we're so divided and the rhetoric that we see. Do you look at that in that way?

LEE: They could always pin something that's always going wrong. Rock and roll is getting young kids heads and you know, and it's just you always find a boogie man and point to something why. This is why things are going not the way we want.

COATES: Well, who do you think people will point to for the future of office holding? Who do you think is going to be or emerge as someone who could be a viable presidential option? Have you thought about that or the qualities in that person?

LEE: I am not thought about as much as I should. So, I got to get back in it to see who the people that might be propped up or.

COATES: Was your break intentional? Was your break intentional from thinking about it?

[23:35:06]

LEE: It's off and on, but at a point, I'm just speaking for myself, it's an overload, like it's too much. It's bananas right now. It is just straight up bananas here and you know where we are politically in this country. But began through other stuff too when we will.

COATES: People looking at New York as sometimes an example of was bananas and they're looking at when the election of Mamdani but the bromance, I use that term lightly within him and Trump.

LEE: I can't speak in that though.

(CROSSTALK)

COATES: What do you think about that?

LEE: I'm like this though.

COATES: What does that mean?

LEE: Read my face.

COATES: I'm trying to read it. Is that for Mamdani or is that for their relationship? Or what?

LEE: I don't understand what that is.

COATES: Does it surprise you that he's able to get along with him?

LEE: I don't know what that is. I guess that in New York City, the president can hurt you with stuff as far as the money goes. I know him. I'm going to ask him when I see him, though. Not Trump. The mayor.

COATES: Mamdani?

LEE: His honor. His honor. his honor. You like what he's doing so far? How's he doing? Do you like what he's doing in New York so far?

LEE: Oh, yeah. And he's arsenal fan, too.

COATES: There you go.

LEE: On top of that.

COATES: Well, he says, Mamdani says it might be because they're both New Yorkers and love and care about the city. What's your face telling me now?

LEE: Hey, Giuliani was a New Yorker too.

COATES: I'll just move right along in that. You mentioned School Daze and I'm curious about your take because there's that famous scene as you know when you've got Dap screaming, wake up. Does America need to wake up still?

LEE: Yes, but here's the thing though. School Daze, my second film begins with Laurence Fishburne saying wake up, and the next film do the right thing. It's like Samuel Jackson saying, wake up.

COATES: An intentional decision.

LEE: Very intentional.

COATES: What do want people to know about why you made that?

LEE: There's so many things going on that I think may distract Americans from what's really going on. Do you ever see the brothers in New York playing Three Card Monte.

COATES: Yep.

LEE: You never win! You don't win with a Three Card Monte. So, it's the okey-doke, you know? Instructions to keep your eyes off what's really important.

COATES: What's really important to you?

LEE: What's important to me beside the Knicks? Just kidding. I know (inaudible).

COATES: I know that's the most important thing to you.

LEE: Just kidding. Just kidding. No, look, the principles upon, here's the thing though. We have to be careful when we talk about the press of America, because this is just slavery and enslavement. My grandmother who put me to college from saving my Social Security checks, lived to 100 years old. My grandma lived to be 100. Her grandmother was enslaved. So that's not that my grandmother's grandmother was enslaved.

So that is not far back. So, you know, you can get messed up all the way with the red, white, and blue, because there's a lot of things, you know, Native Americans, you know, what was happening. And those horrors were done to the natives of this country.

COATES: So, when someone says this is not who we are, you question that.

LEE: Yes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: Much more from my conversation with Spike Lee after a short break, including what he thinks about A.I. in Hollywood and the controversy around the new Michael Jackson movie.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LEE: People said --

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[23:40:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNKNOWN: Come here, doctor.

UNKNOWN: Man, I got to go. I'm working. I'm working. I'm working.

UNKNOWN: This is the mayor talking.

UNKNOWN: All right, all right.

UNKNOWN: Doctor.

UNKNOWN: Come on. What?

UNKNOWN: Always do the right thing.

UNKNOWN: That's it?

UNKNOWN: That's it.

UNKNOWN: I got it. I'm gone.

(END VIDEO CLIP) COATES: The word classic does not even begin to describe Spike Lee's do the right thing groundbreaking in the way it explored racial tensions in New York City in the late 80s. It earned Spike Lee an Oscar nomination and cemented his status as a major American director for years to come.

[23:44:58]

After that, the hits just kept coming and coming and coming. Here's more of our conversation.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: I mean, Spike, you have made an incredible career addressing everything that America confronts from race to economic pressure to everything in between. And I just want to --

LEE: I'm not done yet.

COATES: Tell me why you're not done. Can you be?

LEE: When I'm dead. But it's not going be any time soon. I have a lot of more joints to make and a lot of different subject matter that I've not dealt with before, but I will not disclose at this moment in time and space.

COATES: Give me some categories, though. What has made you say, I got to do this story. I got to tell this story.

LEE: Well, it's not just a story, how you tell it. I've yet to do a musical.

COATES: You're going to do a musical?

LEE: Yes, even though there lot of musical aspects of my film, tomorrow, straight out singing and dancing joint. That's going to happen.

COATES: Really?

LEE: Also, we're going to be swarmed here why I'm here in D.C., the nation's capital, formerly known as Chocolate City, we're having a special screen of School Daze tonight. And School Daze came out in '88.

COATES: Still relevant.

LEE: The opening weekend, people said this should be a Broadway play. And so, we're working on bringing it to Broadway.

COATES: People will love that. I am curious with all the films you've made. I mean, anywhere from Do the Right Thing, to Malcolm X, to She's Gotta Have It, Mo' Better Blues, I mean, can go on with all the movies that you have done. You know, people want to know the secret behind a Spike Lee joint because they all still hit.

You can watch a movie right now and evoke similar emotions then and now and probably in the future. Why?

LEE: Well, my mother was a cinephile. My late mother. And my father hated movies.

COATES: Really?

LEE: Hated movies. So, I'm the oldest. I was my mother's movie date. So I got my love of music and sports my father and cinema came from my mother. I was the movie date. And so, anytime she loved Sean Connery, James Bond, and we would be in the theaters, packed theaters, every opening weekend.

COATES: Well, your mother loves Sean Connery, but mine loves Denzel. Who only has one name in my house, Denzel and he had --

LEE: D! Oh, you call him D?

COATES: You call him D. I call him Denzel. Thank you. And I think about all of the collaborations you've had.

LEE: In order. The Better Blues, Malcolm X, he Got Game, Inside Man, and the latest, Highest 2 Lowest. You know the beautiful thing about our relationship? We don't really hang out.

COATES: But when you see each other?

LEE: When we see each other what happens that we're not doing a movie, some way during the year I'll be sitting this seat next to in the end. That's the latest. He did he sit with me in the garden. So, in fact, I just saw I got a text. Denzel he's watched this game last night with the lad. They say, Spike, you sit behind the bench now?

COATES: Everyone can spot you, Spike at these games, but you know what. You talk about Denzel. I want to remind people about you and Michael Jackson. Because you directed one of his greatest short films. I know he didn't call. You didn't call them videos, right?

LEE: Michael didn't call them music videos.

COATES: He called them short films.

LEE: Yes.

COATES: Including, They Don't Really Care About Us.

LEE: Yes. Which is really. I mean, they're great artists. I feel the ones who see stuff before it happens. And that film, They Don't Care About Us, really speaks of what has happened today in the world. And they released the song again, it's just like, Michael. I mean, Prince great artists like that they -- When you're a great artist, you see stuff before it's even happened, I feel. It's a gift, a God-given gift. And you're in tune with the universe. You're on a different.

Cast like that, Miles and Coltrane, I'm talking about Stevie.

COATES: Some would say Spike Lee. [23:49:58]

LEE: No. I'm not. These guys and women are on a different wavelength. They're operating on. They in (inaudible), that's brings me to the reviews of.

COATES: Yes, the movie is out. You saw it.

LEE: I've seen it twice.

COATES: You've seen it twice. What'd you think?

LEE: Love it.

COATES: Why so much criticism?

LEE: Because, first of all, if you're a movie critic and you're complaining about this stuff that, you know, all this other stuff, but the movie ends in '88 and stuff, you're talking about accusations happen, so you're critiquing the film on something that you wanted, but it doesn't work in the timeline of the film. But people showed up. They showed their -- worldwide. People showed their love. Michael and I miss Mike, I miss Prince. I mean, these are my brothers. I mean, you know, work with both of them, both beautiful, beautiful people.

COATES: There are many who don't share. That's part of the criticism. It's a biopic of Michael who want the movie to capture the allegations you don't think that would be appropriate.

LEE: The allegations came post -- the film in '88.

COATES: It does.

LEE: So, the people said --

COATES: That's a Latin term that you have gone, yes, I know it well.

LEE: And gone has seen more than once --

COATES: Yes.

LEE: -- like me.

COATES: It's a statement.

LEE: It's a statement.

COATES: The Oscars, they announced that there are some new rule changes today. I'm --

LEE: Today?

COATES: Yep. About A.I.

LEE: Today.

COATES: The academy --

(CROSSTALK)

LEE: What's today's date?

COATES: Today is today, Friday.

LEE: What May what? What's the day?

COATES: May 1st.

LEE: May 1st, today?

COATES: There you go. May 1st today.

LEE: In the year of the Lord, 19 --

COATES: Don't play me. Listen, the Academy says that acting and writing must be done by humans only to be eligible for Oscars. So you're clapping. There's a fear that A.I. would replace human filmmakers and artist. What's your thought?

LEE: It's been done already.

COATES: You think it's already been done?

LEE: Yes.

COATES: And how do you feel about that?

LEE: I'm not a fan.

COATES: Will you use A.I. in a movie?

LEE: There's a fine line between A.I. and a special effect.

COATES: OK.

LEE: But I would never, I mean, blowing up a building, you know, I'm going to blow up a building. That's just to write magic. But as far as writing scripts and acting, I think we have to cross, in my opinion, whatever that means, I'm crossing a line on that. I would never do that.

COATES: What is your concern with it?

LEE: It's fake. I give another word. Fugazi.

COATES: Brooklyn is still in the house. OK.

LEE: Three-dollar bill.

COATES: People don't think that. I mean, they think it might be the future. Does it mean no creativity?

LEE: Everything about the future doesn't have to be positive. COATES: Are you positive about the next future?

LEE: Well, we haven't won since the year of our Lord in 1973. It looks good though, it looks good.

COATES: I mean they blew out the Hawks. Is this finally their --

LEE: I was there last night.

COATES: You were there?

LEE: Yes. Madison Square Garden South.

COATES: Is that what they call it? OK, so Philly, are they going to face Philly or Boston?

LEE: We'll find out soon.

COATES: Who do want them to face?

LEE: Well, I think that I'll be safer going to a game and Philly did Boston.

COATES: You might be right about that. I'd be right about that. So, I mean, is New York ready if the Knicks win at all? I know you're ready.

LEE: When this glorious day happens, they're going to need the Marines. Forget about NYPD. They're going need the Marines, Navy, Air Force, and they better not bring ICE.

COATES: Oh, no. Seems like your views are clear.

LEE: Have you seen clips of just this playoff games and after the climbing?

COATES: Yep.

LEE: This is going to be a great day.

COATES: I have one more question for you. Is there a story that you feel like you're running out of time to tell?

[23:55:05]

LEE: Clock is not ticking yet. Because I'm not done.

COATES: Spike Lee.

LEE: Thank you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COATES: I had so much fun with Spike Lee and there's much more of our conversation that you can find on my social media accounts. We also did a little rapid-fire Q&A that I think you'll love. And here's a tease for you. Of all the people in history from any time, who would Spike Lee want

to sit next to at a Knicks game? I just posted it so you can find it on my Instagram, TikTok, and X at the Laura Coates.

Hey, thank you all for watching. The Story Is with Elex Michaelson is up next.

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