Hollywood filmmaker Spike Lee has hit out at Reverend Jesse Jackson - one month after the U.S. civil rights activist was caught insulting presidential candidate Barack Obama on TV.

Jackson was forced to apologize to Obama last month after he was overheard accusing the politician of talking "down" to the black community and stating that he wanted to "cut his (Obama's) nuts off". Lee insists he "respectfully disagrees" with Jackson, leaping to the defense of Obama as he joins a legion of A-listers who have flocked to Denver, Colorado to attend this week's Democratic National Convention.

He tells the New York Daily News: "First, I go by the 'one-drop rule'. One drop (of black blood), and you're black. The truth is every African-American is bi-racial. Go back far enough, and you'll find the massah was in the slave quarters."

"You can't be black and go to Harvard Law School? You can't be black and be articulate? The stereotype is that all black men are angry - that if he's not angry, he's not passionate. I don't believe that."

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(This news article provided by World Entertainment News Network)