News of President Trump’s surprisingly amiable meeting with New York City Mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani traveled fast, leaving at least one Mamdani voter gobsmacked by the President’s abrupt change of tone.
“[During the election, Trump] called him a communist and said New York City was going to go down the drain,” said director Spike Lee at a Torino Film Festival press conference. “I mean, the President said he was going to cut off federal funding. So from the things that were said to this quick turnaround… I’m puzzled.”
“We shall see what we shall see,” Lee continued, still bemused by the sudden Oval Office bromance. “When you go back and see what the President said about him, and what would happen to New York City if [Mamdani] won, it just seems…,” he trailed off. “It seems like they somehow found common ground.”
Of course, the filmmaker — himself as voluble and emblematic an NYC icon as the two politicians who met on Friday — was just as happy to throw some punches. “There were a lot of people saying if Mamdani won, they were going to leave New York City. Now, I really want the real numbers if anybody actually left!”
The Oscar-winning director arrived in Turin just days after meeting Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican, where Lee gifted the Chicago-born pontiff a customized Knicks jersey in an encounter that quickly went viral.
“People who never knew who I was now do, all because of this picture of the Pope holding up the jersey,” Lee said with a smile, shortly after exclaiming, “I knew this question was going to come up!”
Nearly a week after the meeting, Lee remained effusive — especially given his initial disbelief upon receiving the invitation. “I got an email from his office, and I thought it was fake,” he laughed. “Another word in English for fake is ‘fugazi’… but they wrote back that this was going to be about cinema, so right away I was floating.”
“The Pope was telling the truth, as he saw it, about how cinema could have a great impact for good,” Lee continued, before adding: “His people are Black. Do your research. His family comes from New Orleans — Creole. Lot of intermarriage. So Black folks, we claim him. We call him our brother!”
Lee was equally enthusiastic when discussing “Sinners” auteur Ryan Coogler, calling the blues-and-blood vampire tale his favorite film of the year (“I was jumping out of my seat; it was amazing!”) and praising the younger filmmaker as an equally salutary force.
“Hollywood has improved because more people of color are behind and in front of the camera,” Lee said. “I mean, it’s way better now than when I started back in 1986.”