Welcome back to the home of the oxymoron. Evil genius. He asked the newspaper to print his obituary early so he'd enjoy it. That's like hiding at your own funeral. Yeah, a big, great gig. I'm Russell Kane. Join me to weigh in on whether the biggest players in history are more evil or genius. Becoming that rich, I'd say that is some level of genius. It also helps

it. It's a long time ago, right? It's like the podcast version of telling your kids the ice cream

van plays music when it's out of ice cream. Listen to evil genius on BBC Sounds.

BBC Sounds, music, radio, podcasts. Hello, thanks for downloading this episode of the Arts and Ideas podcast.

You'll hear a conversation recorded with the filmmaker Spike Lee

and presenter Matthew Sweet in February,

which we think makes for an interesting listen

in the week when Spike Lee's 1989 film Do the Right Thing

has been reissued in the UK in another summer which has seen temperatures rising.

And with the news of racially motivated attacks in America, which have prompted statements about racism, bigotry and white supremacy from President Donald Trump.

As you might expect of a Spikely interview,

the conversation covers racial history and racial language in America

and whether attitudes have changed or not.

Since we recorded, the actor Liam Neeson has apologised

for comments he made about wanting to revenge the rape of a friend

by attacking a black person,

saying he now understands that he hurt many people at a time when language is so often weaponised and an entire community of innocent people are targeted in acts of rage.

We also now know that Spike Lee won the 2019 Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, but if you listen on, you'll hear him surprised by an

early Oscars photograph shown him by presenter Matthew Sweet.

How's this for a pitch? It's the early 1970s, and Ron Stallworth is a young cop in the Colorado

Springs Police Department. He's been chosen to go on an undercover mission

to infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Here's the twist. Ron is black. Here's

...