Spike Lee issues apology after defending Woody Allen

Film director Spike Lee has apologised for words he said were “wrong”, after voicing support for Woody Allen and criticising cancel culture.

In an interview Friday on the New York radio station WOR 710, Lee called Allen “a great, great filmmaker”.

“This cancel thing is not just Woody.

“And I think that when we look back on it, (we’re) gonna see that, short of killing somebody, I don’t know if you can just erase somebody like they never existed.

“Woody’s a friend of mine,” said Lee. “I know he’s going through it right now.”

The following day, Lee tweeted an apology.

“My words were WRONG,” he wrote.

“I do not and will not tolerate sexual harassment, assault or violence. Such treatment causes real damage that can’t be minimised.”

Allen has been accused of molesting his daughter Dylan Farrow when she was seven years old in the early 1990s.

Allen has long denied the allegation.

Earlier this year, he released a memoir through Arcade Publishing after his original publisher, Hachette Book Group, dropped the book amid widespread criticism.

Lee’s latest film, the Vietnam War drama Da 5 Bloods debuted Friday on Netflix.