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March 16, 2006
Spike Punch: Conspiracy-Minded Lee Sits Down with the Observer
It is Deadline City around Reeler HQ, which always makes for less-than-prolific blogging but at least means that somebody is paying me for a change. Lest I lose Thursday to a marathon transcribing run, allow me to refer you to Sara Vilkomerson's Spike Lee profile in this week's Observer. While you may not necessarily find any earth-shattering exclusives strung through the piece (OK, fine: I am a little giddy to share a ZIP code with the guy), Universal has to be thrilled that Lee's Inside Man interview yielded exactly one paragraph about the film and a bounty of gleeful indignance:
Mr. Lee recalled the story of a shopper who approached Ms. Rice at the pricey Ferragamo shoe store on Fifth Avenue during (Hurricane) Katrina and reportedly shouted “How dare you shop for shoes while thousands are dying and homeless!” before Secret Service physically removed her.
Mr. Lee picked up The Observer’s tape recorder and held it close in front of his face. “To the lady that got in Ms. Rice’s face in the store before you got pulled off by Secret Service,” he said. “If you read this article, please contact The New York Observer because we’re trying to find you for the documentary we’re doing on Hurricane Katrina.” Caggle, caggle. “If you are still alive, that is."
Then there are the usual yawny bio, background, compliments etc. before Lee fires off his grand finale:
Last October, he tussled with Tucker Carlson (“the guy in the bow tie”) on HBO’s Real Time with Bill Maher when Mr. Lee said he’d be including in his documentary the conspiracy theory that it was the U.S. government who bombed the levees.
“Here’s the thing,” he said. “Even today, a large part of the African-American community of New Orleans thinks that those levees were bombed. Now, whether that is true or not, that should not be discounted.” He rattled off past government trespasses: 1927’s Great Flood of Mississippi, when the levees were, in fact, blown up; the flooding of the Ninth Ward during Hurricane Betsy in 1965; the Tuskegee syphilis experiment.
“So, in the collective mind of African-Americans, it is not some science-fiction, hocus-pocus thing to say that the government is doing stuff,” he continued. ... Would he be shocked if it turned out to be true? “No. No, I would not,” he said.
You tell 'em, Spike. Now--anyone up for a heist flick?
Posted by stvanairsdale at March 16, 2006 10:34 AM
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