Spike Lee blew a gasket in a vitriolic attack on a New York Times film critic who suggested that the thin-skinned filmmaker was a hypocrite for whining about gentrification in Brooklyn — from the lofty perch of his own Upper East Side digs.
“As is often the case with Mr. Lee’s public utterances, this one was a mixture of hyperbole, provocation and plain truth,” critic A.O. Scott sniffed in Sunday’s Times about an anti-gentrification rant Lee unleashed in February during an appearance at Pratt Institute. “What’s the saying about people who live in glass brownstones?”
Lee fired back in a long “open letter” to Scott on the social media site WhoSay on Monday – defending his Brooklyn cred and right to live where he wants.
“The Truth is The Truth. The Truth is The Light, and as they say in Brasil “One Finger Can’t Block The Sun.” The Truth is Gentrification is Great for the New Arrivals in Harlem, South Bronx, Bushwick, Red Hook, Bed-Stuy Do or Die and Fort Greene, and in many other cities across the U.S. But not so great for The Brown and Black Residents who have been in these Neighborhoods for decades and are being forced out, to the Suburbs, Down South or back to their Native Islands,” Lee hyperventilated.
“Your criticism of me as a hypocrite is lame, weak and not really thought out. You stated in your Article that because I live in The Upper East Side and I’m talking about Gentrification that makes me Hypocrite. The fact is where I live has nothing to do with it. Your argument is OKEY DOKE,” the pint-sized Knicks fanatic added before pointing out his Brooklyn bona fides.
Lee said he and his family moved from his native Atlanta when he was 3 and settled in Crown Heights.
“My Parents bought their first home in 1968, a Brownstone in Fort Greene, where my Father still lives,” he said, adding that his dad’s pad was vandalized after his remarks at Pratt.
“Mr. Scott, what you fail to understand is that I can live on The Moon and what I said is still TRUE. No matter where I choose to live that has nothing to do with it. I will always carry Brooklyn in my Blood, Heart and Soul. Did anyone call Jay-Z a Hypocrite when he helped with bringing The Nets from New Jersey to The Barclays Center in Brooklyn at the Corner of Flatbush and Atlantic Avenue?” Lee wrote.
“Hey Buddy, Jay-Z had been long, long gone from The Marcy Projects and Brooklyn a long, long, long time ago and more Power to my BK ALL DAY Brother. Should Jay-Z no longer mention Brooklyn in his Songs because he no longer resides there?” Lee asked.
He then asks Scott if he should not have made many of his acclaimed flicks because he didn’t live in the ’hood where they were set.
“According to your logic I should not have Written and Directed JUNGLE FEVER because I have never lived in HARLEM and BENSONHURST. I should not have Directed CLOCKERS because I have never lived in Boerum Hill and the Gowanus Projects. I should have not Written and Directed HE GOT GAME because I have never lived in CONEY ISLAND,” he fumed before ending with a long list of Brooklyn natives whose hearts remain in the County of Kings even though they’ve moved on geographically.
“It doesn’t matter where you choose to live because Brooklyn goes where you go. It still lives inside Larry King, Sandy Koufax, Big Daddy Kane, Bernard and Albert King, Barry Manilow, Stephon Marbury, Rhea Perlman, Adam Sandler, Neil Sedaka [and] Jerry Seinfeld,” he ranted, naming more than a dozen others.
“Mr. Scott, please learn “SPREADIN’ LOVE IS THE BROOKLYN WAY,” Lee concluded, signing off from “Da Republic of Brooklyn, New York.”
At Pratt, Lee moaned about gentrification and what he called the “Christopher Columbus syndrome” among white newcomers.
“You can’t just come in the neighborhood and start Bogarting and kill off the Native Americans. Or what they did in Brazil, what they did to the indigenous people,” he said.
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