The Huffington Post  |  By Cavan Sieczkowski Posted: 01/18/2013

Jaime Foxx isn't taking Spike Lee's criticism of "Django Unchained" lying down. In a sharp response to Lee's diss, Foxx calls the director "shady" and "irresponsible."

Although "Django Unchained" has been widely praised by critics, won the Golden Globe for Best Screenplay and broke Quentin Tarantino's box office record, Lee spoke out against the film's portrayal of slavery without having seen the flick.

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Spike Lee

American Slavery Was Not A Sergio Leone Spaghetti Western.It Was A Holocaust.My Ancestors Are Slaves.Stolen From Africa.I Will Honor Them.

December 22, 2012 10:18 pm via Twitter for BlackBerry® Reply Retweet Favorite

Lee had said previously in an interview with VIBETV that he did not plan to see "Django" because he considered the film "disres...

In an interview with the Guardian, Foxx responded to Lee's criticism.

"The question for me is: where's Spike Lee coming from?" he said. "He didn't like Whoopi Goldberg, he doesn't like Tyler Perry, he doesn't like anybody, I think he's sort of run his course. I mean, I respect Spike, he's a fantastic director. But he gets a little shady when he's taking shots at his colleagues without looking at the work. To me, that's irresponsible."

Foxx noted that, for years, Hollywood has celebrated white people who told black stories or sang black songs. "But you got to look at the individual cases," said the actor. "When Pat Boone covered Little Richard, you think, 'Huh?', he's got no affinity for it. Good Golly Miss Molly? I don't think so. But you can't tell me that Eminem ain't hot 'cos he's white or that Elvis Presley isn't a bad motherfucker, or that Quentin Tarantino can't do whatever he likes, 'cos damn straight he can."

Lee's criticism of "Djano" wasn't the first time the "4 Little Girls" filmmaker slammed Tarantino. He also took issue with Tarantino's 1997 blaxploitation tribute, "Jackie Brown."

"I will say it again and again," he said during an interview after the release of "Jackie Brown," according to The Hollywood Reporter. "I have a definite problem with Quentin Tarantino’s excessive use of the n-word. And let the record show that I never said that he can not use that word -- I’ve used that word in many of my films -- but I think something is wrong with him."