Lee's 2018 film "BlacKkKlansman", a true crime drama set in the 1970s centered around the true story of a black police officer, Ron Stallworth infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan. The film premiered at the 2018 Cannes Film Festival, where it won the Grand Prix and opened the following August. The film received near universal praise when it opened in North America receiving a 96% on Rotten Tomatoes with the critics consensus reading, ""BlacKkKlansman" uses history to offer bitingly trenchant commentary on current events – and brings out some of Spike Lee's hardest-hitting work in decades along the way." In 2019, during the awards season leading up to the Academy Awards, Lee was invited to join a Directors Roundtable conversation run by "The Hollywood Reporter". The roundtable included Ryan Coogler ("Black Panther"), Yorgos Lanthimos ("The Favourite"), Alfonso Cuarón ("Roma"), Marielle Heller ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?"), and Bradley Cooper ("A Star is Born"). It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture and Best Director (Lee's first ever nomination in this category). Lee won his first competitive Academy Award in the category Best Adapted Screenplay. When asked by journalists from the BBC if the Best Picture winner "Green Book" offended him, Lee replied, "Let me give you a British answer, it's not my cup of tea". Many journalists in the industry noted how the 2019 Oscars with "BlacKkKlansman" competing against eventual winner "Green Book" mirrored the 1989 Oscars with Lee's film "Do the Right Thing" missing out on a Best Picture nomination over the eventual winner "Driving Miss Daisy".