{"id":28058,"date":"2025-05-20T23:43:02","date_gmt":"2025-05-20T23:43:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=28058"},"modified":"2025-05-20T23:43:02","modified_gmt":"2025-05-20T23:43:02","slug":"denzel-washington-skips-cannes-film-festival-event-following-red-carpet-showdown-with-a-photographer-as-director-spike-lee-reveals-surprising-reason-they-wont-work-together-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/?p=28058","title":{"rendered":"Denzel Washington SKIPS Cannes Film Festival event following red carpet showdown with a photographer – as director Spike Lee reveals surprising reason they won’t work together again"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Denzel Washington<\/a><\/span>\u00a0skipped the press conference for Highest 2 Lowest following his altercation with a photographer at\u00a0Cannes Film Festival<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The Oscar-winning actor, 70, shocked fans on Monday night when he was seen\u00a0pointing his finger in the face of one of the snappers<\/a><\/span>\u00a0during the dramatic exchange.<\/p>\n

He was promoting his new film, which has been directed by Spike Lee, with the cast gathering for a press conference for the movie at\u00a0the Palais des Festivals on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n

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It is not clear if Washington is still in\u00a0France<\/a><\/span>\u00a0– with\u00a0Cannes said to have changed some of its scheduling to accommodate his trip and his off-day while performing Othello in New York.<\/p>\n

Seeming to hint at Washington’s scandal,\u00a0Lee, 68, quipped at the press conference: ‘The last time I was in this room, I had to apologise for a f**k up, but I won’t be apologising today for a f**k up.’<\/p>\n

In 2021, while serving as Cannes jury president, Lee ‘messed up’ when he accidentally revealed the Palme d\u2019Or winner, Titane, before the official announcement.<\/p>\n

The director also claimed that he doesn’t see himself working with Washington again. They previously worked together on\u00a0Inside Man (2006) Mo\u2019 Better Blues (1990), Malcolm X (1992) and He Got Game (1998).<\/p>\n

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Denzel Washington skipped the press conference for Highest 2 Lowest following his altercation with a photographer at Cannes Film Festival<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The Oscar-winning actor, 70, shocked fans on Monday night when he was seen pointing his finger in the face of one of the snappers during the dramatic exchange.(pictured on Monday)<\/p>\n

Speaking about their body of work, Lee mused: ‘Denzel and I didn\u2019t know that our previous film, Inside Man, was 18 years ago.<\/p>\n

‘We were surprised because it felt like yesterday. But we didn\u2019t miss a step.<\/p>\n

‘It’s been a blessing to have this body of work of us doing films that the people love. It’s a blessing, again. I don’t know if we’re going to do it again.<\/p>\n

‘I think this is it. Five [films]. He’s [Denzel] been talking about retirement, even though he just did another deal.’<\/p>\n

Highest 2 Lowest, is a remake of Akira Kurosawa’s 1963 film High and Low, and will be released in theaters by A24 August 22 before streaming on Apple TV+ September 5.<\/p>\n

The stars have been on the promotional trail for the new film, but while attending the film’s premiere, Washington found himself in a red carpet altercation.<\/p>\n

Expert lip reader Jeremy Freeman\u00a0has since told DailyMail.com<\/a><\/span>\u00a0that the\u00a0Malcolm X star appeared to have been set off by a photographer tapping him on the arm.<\/p>\n

Despite the intensity of his words, many of the photographers surrounding Washington \u2014 including the one he was yelling at \u2014 were smiling, suggesting that they may not have realized how upset he was.<\/p>\n

However, the actor has a long history of tense interactions with photographers over the years.<\/p>\n

MailOnline has contacted representatives for Washington and Cannes Film Festival for comment.<\/p>\n

Before calling out the photographer, Denzel had been standing on the red carpet with his Highest 2 Lowest costar, the rapper-turned-actor A$AP Rocky, 36.<\/p>\n

Despite his spat, Washington was in great spirits when he was later surprised with an honorary Palme d’Or award by director Spike Lee.<\/p>\n

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Director Spike Lee, 68, seemed to hint at Washington’s absence at the conference (pictured centre, with\u00a0Ilfenesh Hadera and Jeffrey Wright)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Highest 2 Lowest is the fifth film Denzel and Spike have collaborated on (the actor is picture in the film)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The pair’s first joint effort came back in 1989, with the music-based film\u00a0Mo’ Better Blues<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 1992, Denzel starred as the activist Malcolm X in a three-hour biopic, with Spike once again at the helm<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Back in 1998, Denzel and Spike’s third film was the basketball-based drama He Got Game<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In 2006, the duo joined forces for the dramatic thriller Inside Man (pictured with Jodie Foaster)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Handing the award over to Washington, Spike said: ‘This is my brother, right here.’<\/p>\n

‘This is a total surprise for me!’ the actor replied.<\/p>\n

The actor, who posed for photos with Spike and A$AP Rocky, showed no signs of jet lag and was expected to fly back to New York immediately after the screening.<\/p>\n

When the festival first\u00a0announced its lineup last month<\/a>, Highest 2 Lowest wasn’t included.<\/p>\n

But within hours, however, Spike himself announced the film was heading to Cannes and representatives for the festival said they had been waiting for confirmation that Denzel would attend the red carpet.<\/p>\n

The tirade comes seven months after Washington was filmed exploding at autograph hunters\u00a0 in\u00a0New York City<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in October 2024.<\/p>\n

The tirade comes seven months after Washington was filmed exploding at autograph hunters\u00a0 in\u00a0New York City<\/a><\/span>\u00a0in October 2024.<\/p>\n

The Oscar-winning actor snapped at fans as he arrived at the Museum of Modern Art for a film\u00a0benefit honoring Samuel L. Jackson<\/a><\/span>\u00a0– with the tense exchange captured in a dramatic video.<\/p>\n

The Man on Fire star was seen arriving at the museum and posing with a fan – while autograph hunters called his name to the side.<\/p>\n

A visibly annoyed Washington went to walk inside but then turned and addressed a fan in the crowd.<\/p>\n

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Washington was surprised with an honorary Palme d’Or award at the Film Festival on Monday following his red carpet outburst<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

While the entire exchange cannot be deciphered, the actor was seen pointing his finger and heard saying: ‘I heard you. You talk about showing love…’<\/p>\n

‘…Respecting me’ to which the fan said ‘we already do.’<\/p>\n

Washington retorted: ‘I said I’ll see you when I get out, which part of that don’t y’all understand?<\/p>\n

‘It’s about showing love’ – before raising his voice and declaring ‘or not, or not! we can do it another way… or not, we can do it both ways!’<\/p>\n

He then walked inside the building after the shock incident.<\/p>\n

And in 2021 Washington was pictured having an intense moment with a fan.<\/p>\n

The movie star was by his car when the fan walked over to him with a sack of photos for him to sign in New York City.<\/p>\n

The pair engaged in an intense conversation with the actor looking like he was given the fan some pearls of wisdom.<\/p>\n

He placed his hands on his shoulder and looked deep in his eyes, looking like he was forgetting to keep socially distanced for a second.<\/p>\n

While Denzel had his mask on, the fan had his pulled down to his chin for the moment as the Hollywood star placed his hands around his face.<\/p>\n

An onlooker claimed he told the fan to ‘say a prayer’ but it is not known what they were talking about.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Denzel Washington\u00a0skipped the press conference for Highest 2 Lowest following his altercation with a photographer at\u00a0Cannes Film Festival. The Oscar-winning actor, 70, shocked fans on Monday night when … <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":28059,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-28058","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28058","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=28058"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28058\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":28060,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/28058\/revisions\/28060"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/28059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=28058"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=28058"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usdailys.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=28058"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}