Chicago official wants to spike party for controversial film
CHICAGO -- Spike Lee's "Chiraq," which is being filmed on location in Chicago, has brought the controversial buzz that many of the director's films have been known for over the years. But this time, a politician is making his disdain with Lee's latest undertaking clear.
David Moore, the alderman in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood where the "Chiraq" is being shot, is denying a permit for a block party for the film, CBS Chicago reports.
City leaders from Mayor Rahm Emanuel to others in the city council have objected to the title of the film -- a combination of "Chicago" and "Iraq" -- feeling it denigrates the city. But the nickname has existed for years, used by locals to describe the deadly violence that plagues the city.
Emanuel has told the director that it was unfair to the people in the Englewood neighborhood where the film takes place.
Moore criticized the block party as "another veiled attempt to buy the community's support."
"What I object to is the branding of these communities to the rest of the world who will never know anything about the real people who live in Englewood and Auburn Gresham," he explained.
Lee has experienced pressure to change the name of the film since it began shooting earlier this year on the South Side. He has said that the focus should not be on the film's title but on the shootings that have taken place that have taken hundreds of young lives.
"This is not a joke. This is not a game," Lee said at a news conference last month. "This is real life and death and that's the way we're going to approach this."
The film is set to wrap up at St. Sabina's Catholic Church in Auburn Gresham, which was used as a center for casting local residents as extras in the movie. Pastor Michael Pfleger says he has the signatures of dozens of residents who support the idea and says he'll hold the block party outside the church with or without a permit.
"The only people that will be punished by this would be the community," said Fr. Pfleger told CBS Chicago. "I'm not going to punish the community."
"If you want to be upset about something, be upset by the shootings."