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Spike Lee backs Bernie Sanders: ‘He will do the right thing’

by Jesse Byrnes - 02/23/16 7:22 AM ET

Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders’s campaign on Tuesday touted the support of director Spike Lee ahead of this weekend’s South Carolina primary.

Lee is featured in a radio ad in the Palmetto State saying that “99 percent of Americans were hurt” by the financial crisis. “And that’s why I’m officially endorsing my brother Bernie Sanders.”

{mosads}”When Bernie gets into the White House he will do the right thing,” Lee says in the 60-second ad, a riff on his 1998 movie “Do the Right Thing.” He also mentions Sanders attendance at the March on Washington led by Martin Luther King, Jr.

“No flipping, no flopping,” Lee says of Sanders’s record on civil rights and economic issues.

Sanders’s campaign declined to say how much money is behind the ad, which will air starting Tuesday in South Carolina.

His campaign has rolled out the support of several high-profile African-Americans as it seeks to shore up support among black voters in South Carolina, where Clinton holds a big lead.

Actor Danny Glover, singer Harry Belafonte and former NAACP President Ben Jealous have voiced their support of Sanders ahead of voting in South Carolina.

Clinton topped Sanders in Nevada over the weekend for her second win in the Democratic race as the two spar this week.