Last Monday, in response to the death of George Floyd the director released a short film interspersing footage of Eric Garner, George Floyd and his character from Do The Right Thing, Radio Raheem, in chokeholds by police.
Spike Lee appeared on Jimmy Fallon’s The Tonight Show where he talked about police brutality, systemic racism and how these two injustices have changed since the eighties when he released his film Do The Right Thing.
“Radio Raheem is a fictional character from my 1989 film Do The Right Thing, but his murder is based on the real murder — so that’s where I got the idea,” he said.
Lee explained how the fictional act of violence in Do The Right Thing was inspired by the killing of graffiti artist Michael Stewart.