Spike Lee led a protest march against gun violence in New York last night after the premiere of his new film Chi-raq, which is about gang violence in Chicago, and a fictional sex-strike enforced by women to try to stop the violence.
Instead of throwing a star-studded after-party following the screening of the film, director Spike Lee and members of the cast, including Nick Cannon and John Cusack, led premiere attendees down Broadway and into Times Square in a protest march. The protesters wore orange beanie hats, chosen to represent the tabards hunters wear in the forest as a ‘don’t shoot me’ sign, according to the Associated Press.
The march was inspired by the film’s anti-gun violence message, but also by recent protests in Chicago calling for the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emanuel over his handling of the killing of black teenager Laquan McDonald. Video evidence has been released showing that McDonald was shot 16 times by police officer Jason Van Dyke, who has been charged with his murder.
Chi-raq is released in the US on Friday.