Spike Lee Follows ‘Chi-Raq’ Premiere With Anti-Gun Violence March

The director led attendees from Ziegfeld Theater to Times Square with orange American flag pins

Spike Lee Leads Anti-Gun Violence March in New York
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Beatrice Verhoeven, PWS

“Chi-Raq” director Spike Lee led an anti-gun violence protest after the premiere of his new movie in New York on Tuesday night, marching with the film’s attendees from Manhattan’s Ziegfeld Theater to Times Square.

The movie’s Twitter page posted various photos from the protest, showing that Michael Pfleger, portrayed in the film by John Cusack, as well as Reverend Al Sharpton were present at the protest as well.

After the screening, for which Cusack, Wesley Snipes, Nick Cannon, Teyonah Parris, LaLa Anthony, Michelle Mitchenor and Harry Lennix were present, Lee handed out knit hats and orange-colored American flag pins before leading the group down Broadway.

The film, in which a group of women withholds sex to dissuade their men from committing gang violence in Chicago, will premiere Friday, just days after the city’s police superintendent was fired in the wake of the release of video depicting the shooting of Laquan McDonald by officers.

The video sparked various protests throughout Chicago, a city that has been affected by a spike in violence over recent years. According to the Chicago Tribune, 2,752 people have been shot this year; last year, there were 2,587 shootings. In 2013, 1,864 were shot.

The movie was filmed in Chicago last summer over a six-week period, which allowed cast members Cusack, Cannon, Parris, Snipes, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson and Jennifer Hudson to see the city’s gun violence problem firsthand.

See the photos of the protest below.

Beatrice Verhoeven, PWS

Beatrice Verhoeven

Film Editor, Twitter: @bverhoev

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