Spike Lee Reflects On Police Brutality, Systemic Racism Since ‘Do The Right Thing’ On Jimmy Fallon
Denise Petski Senior Managing EditorSpike Lee talked with Jimmy Fallon about police brutality and how things have changed (or have not) since his 1989 film Do The Right Thing in an appearance on The Tonight Show Monday.In response to the death of George Floyd, Lee had released a short film, Will History Stop Repeating Itself?, that intersperses footage of Eric Garner, George Floyd and Radio Raheem, his character from Do The Right Thing, in police chokeholds. Prefaced with a graphic content warning, Fallon played the entire film on Tonight Show.Lee told Fallon that the Radio Raheem scene was fictional, but based on the killing of graffiti artist Michael Stewart.