Spike Lee Accidentally Spoils Cannes Awards Show

Director revealed top prize at the start of the ceremony
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted Jul 18, 2021 6:15 AM CDT

For anyone anxious to know who took top prize at the year's Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee is your man. Those more partial to suspense may have been less than thrilled, though, as the director and jury president accidentally revealed the Palme d’Or winner at the top of the closing awards ceremony Saturday rather than at its conclusion, per Deadline. Spoiler alert: it was Julia Ducournau’s Titane--but no one was supposed to know that until the end (see video).

The mix-up happened when Lee was asked in French to say which prize would be awarded first. Instead, he announced the evening’s first prize, as it were, the coveted Palme d'Or, as fellow juror Mati Diop plunged her head into her hands and others rushed to stop him. Per the AP, Lee spent several moments with his own head in his hands before apologizing profusely for taking a lot of the suspense out of the evening. “I have no excuses,” Lee told reporters afterward. “I messed up. I’m a big sports fan. It’s like the guy at the end of the game who misses the free throw.” (More Spike Lee stories.)

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