Spike Lee Reacts to Glenn Close Doing ‘Da Butt’ at the Oscars

Glenn Close has a fan in Spike Lee! The legendary director gave a shoutout to the Oscar-nominated actress a day after she made headlines at Sunday’s Academy Awards for correctly identifying and dancing to the E.U.’s 1988 hit “Da Butt,” famously featured in Lee’s 1988 movie, School Daze. The moment came during a segment with DJ Questlove and comedian Lil Rel Howery, in which they tested celebrity attendees on their music trivia by asking if different songs had been nominated for an Oscar, won one or been snubbed.

When Questlove began playing “Da Butt” for The Wife actress, 74, Howery said, “Stop, stop. That’s not fair to Glenn Close,” before she responded, “Spike Lee had it written for his brilliant movie School Daze! My friends at the Oscars missed it and it wasn’t nominated, so it couldn’t have won, which I think it’s absolute bulls—.” Howery replied, “I wasn’t expecting that at all — that you knew ‘Da Butt.’ But do you know the dance though?” prompting Close to show off her moves on camera.

Lee was clearly a fan of the moment, sharing a video Monday in which he responded to his film’s return to the headlines. “I got to give a shout-out to my sister, Glenn Close, who I heard gave me love on School Daze, E.U.’s ‘Da Butt,’” the Oscar-winning director said. “And she was doing ‘Da Butt’ too! I saw it on video! You were getting down!”

While the segment was planned as part of Sunday’s show, Close’s dance moves were much more impromptu. The actress explained in an Instagram post on Monday that the other stars seated at her table — Chris Terrio, Daniel Kaluuya and Darrell Britt-Gibson — helped her prepare for the skit, as she knew Howery would ask her about “Da Butt.” “Darrell insisted that I mention the Backyard Band, on top of E.U., Suga Bear and the whole DMV. I googled ‘Da Butt’ and watched Spike’s music video so when Lil Rel asked if I could do the dance…you can actually see me think of the video. That part was completely spontaneous,” Close admitted of the moment. “Daniel, Darrell and Chris egged me on!!! It was ALL their fault.”