- Jason Lee interviewed Black Lives Matter founder Patrisse Cullors in May of 2022.
- The Hollywood Unlocked founder recently had Cullors on his podcast.
Jason Lee does not agree with Ye, formerly known as Kanye West, that Black Lives Matter is a scam.
In an interview with Insider, Lee defended Patrisse Cullors, the co-founder of the Black Lives Matter Global Network Foundation, calling her "a woman who started a global movement and maybe wasn't as ready to understand the infrastructure that needed to be built."
Lee is a former labor organizer and the founder of the entertainment site Hollywood Unlocked. He interviewed Black Lives Matters co-founder Patrisse Cullors on the site's podcast in May of 2022.
Lee also previously worked with Ye — who recently wrote, "Everyone knows that Black Lives Matter was a scam now it's over you're welcome," in his Instagram stories on October 4 — as the head of Donda Media before the two parted ways.
Lee told Insider he no longer speaks for West on September 29.
"Part of controlling your narrative is you being able to be your own storyteller," said Lee to Insider. "I don't want to tell his story, I let him tell his own."
He commented on the dissolution of their working relationship after Ye wore a White Lives Matter at Paris Fashion Week in a live stream. "Kanye's post does nothing but serve up white supremacy on a platter to them. It does nothing for us," he said during the stream.
"There are similarities and very big differences between me and Ye," he told Insider.
Lee calls the criticism against Cullors and Black Lives Matter a 'witch hunt'
"Black Lives Matter" is a common refrain on social media asserting the value of Black lives. It's also the name of a global organization with multiple chapters that identifies itself as a "Black-centered political will and movement building project," according to its website. Cullors co-founded Black Lives Matter with Alicia Garza and Opal Tometi and it went global with chapters in several countries, according to the organization.
In recent years, Black Lives Matter has been accused of financial improprieties, which Cullors denies, and received criticism for a $6 million compound in LA that the organization says it plans to turn into a campus for Black artists, according to the Associated Press. Cullors was also accused of using the organization's finances to purchase personal property, which she also denies.
She resigned from the organization in 2021 but said it wasn't related to the claims and was long planned.
"It turned into this whole witch hunt, which is crazy," Lee said, speaking of the criticism against Cullors. "Because if you run a $90-million organization, you should be able to own a million-dollar house, a million-dollar house sounds like a lot but it really isn't. I just feel like it was a witch hunt."
Black Lives Matter is not the only philanthropic organization to be questioned about its finances and that of its leaders and founders. Payments made to the leadership team One Young World are currently being investigated, according to The Times of London, and the Susan G. Korman foundation was publicly questioned about the money it spent on executive salaries in 2013.
During Lee's conversation with Cullors on his podcast, the two discussed the history of Black Lives Matter and her role in developing the organization. She also outlined the jobs she was doing outside of her work with the organization including teaching, writing books, and developing exclusive content with Warner Media.
"She launched it, it kind of grew from under her feet," said Lee.
When reached for comment, Cullors told Insider: "Jason Lee is a brilliant strategist and media maker. His work with Black Hollywood Unlocked is game-changing. I was grateful he sat with me at such a critical time in my life. Compassionate, but firm Black media is what we need right now, especially in the age of misinformation and disinformation."
Lee's pop-culture site Hollywood Unlocked is now taking on politics
Lee has been widening his own professional narrative by telling stories that include politics and social causes.
"I always like fighting for the underdog because I feel like as Black people, we're always the underdog," he said to Insider.
Lee explained the moment he decided to expand the site he originally created to be "the pulse of pop culture" to include politics: "I saw them literally squeeze the life out of George Floyd by standing on his neck," he said.
The eight minutes and 46 seconds had an impact on Lee.
"I was like, 'Yo, I have a voice,'" he continued. "A voice has a responsibility so I have to broaden my content to cover this stuff more. I need to use my visibility."
Similar sites like The Shade Room and Bossip have begun to include more politics in their coverage as well. They have sprinkled screenshots of racist remarks by politicians, and coverage of community programs into their reporting on rap beefs and exposing celeb spouses. As smaller outfits with direct relationships with their audiences, sites like Lee's can pivot quickly.
"We're an outlier that can change the narrative at any moment with a story that we put out," Lee told Insider.
"We've been trying to figure out how do we continue as Hollywood Unlocked to expand our ability to educate not just celebrities but businesses, brands and otherwise, how to communicate better to the culture," he continued.
You can listen to the full conversation between Lee and Cullors below.