Legendary filmmaker Spike Lee recently let fans see a side of him that he rarely shows in public.
Lee, 68, is known to show up on a movie set and in the front row at a New York Knicks home game wearing a hat. The Brooklyn native is often seen rocking a Yankees cap on his head.
On Nov. 15, Lee was among a group of Hollywood stars to attend a gathering with Pope Leo XIV at the Vatican. American director Greta Gerwig and Australian actress Cate Blanchett joined the American-born pontiff for the event that celebrated the cinema.
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Lee arrived in Vatican City with a gift for Pope Leo XIV. The “Highest 2 Lowest” movie director gave the head of the Catholic Church a signed New York Knicks jersey featuring the number 14.
“This afternoon in Vatican City, I presented Pope Leo with a New York Knicks Brand Jordan jersey. The pontiff graduated from Villanova, and so did Brunson, Hart, and Bridges. Orange and blue skies. Ya-dig. [Sho-nuff],” Lee captioned an Instagram photo shared over the weekend.
Pope Leo XIV, 70, was born in Chicago. He later graduated from Villanova University in 1977 with a degree in mathematics. Knicks players Jalen Brunson, Josh Hart, and Mikal Bridges played college basketball for the same institution of higher learning near Philadelphia before jumping to the NBA.
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Lee’s basketball-themed present to the Pope made headlines around the world, but many people on social media were more enamored with the Emmy Award winner showing up in the Vatican capless.
“Spike without a hat??? Let me go play the lotto,” a fan proclaimed in the comment section of Complex Pop’s Instagram post about Lee and Pope Leo XIV’s friendly meeting.
A second poster on the social networking app wrote, “I think this is the first time I’ve seen Spike Lee without a hat on.” Similarly, someone commented, “I think I can honestly say I’ve never seen Spike without a hat until now.”
“I honestly thought this was AI,” another skeptical commenter admitted, suggesting the real photo of Lee with the Pope was so unbelievable that the image must have been created by artificial intelligence.
While some Instagram users were fixated on Lee’s head, others joked that his gesture of offering Pope Leo a Knicks jersey was a subtle way of hoping the religious leader would bless his favorite team, which has not won an NBA championship since 1973.
“The Knicks need everything it can get,” expressed one New York hater on Instagram. Yet another poster proposed that the Pope only supports the Windy City, writing, “You know he threw that straight in the trash. Leo is on some real Chitown shi.”
Lee explained his decision to go with New York merchandise for Pope Leo while speaking with the Vatican News outlet. Like with his Instagram caption, the 2015 Honorary Academy Award recipient made the connection between Villanova University and current Knicks stars.
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“Here’s the story. The Pope went to Villanova,” Lee told the reporter, before adding, “And the Knicks had three players from Villanova. So it’s Brand Jordan, city edition, New York Knicks jersey. He’s the 14th Pope [Leo], so it has 14 on it.”
As far as Lee’s tendency to have a hat on his head, he wrote about his love for baseball caps in a 2019 article for The Guardian. He mentioned wearing the New Era brand for 50 years and touched on his overall fashion sense.
“In terms of my fashion in general, I don’t really say ‘let me dress fashionable,’ I just dress how I dress. The big things for me are: wear something colorful and wear something comfortable,” Lee stated.
The Morehouse College graduate also said, “I don’t have to have Yankees or [basketball team] New York Knicks stuff on me all the time, but a lot of my clothes are orange and blue, the Knicks’ colors, I will admit to that.”
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