Where Spike Lee goes, controversy inevitably follows. The latest imbroglio for the 58-year-old filmmaker was over the making of CHI-RAQ, a film about gun violence, in Chicago. Windy City mayor Rahm Emanuel objected to the title, which uses a street nickname — pronounced “Shy-rak” — that likens the gun-plagued city to war-torn Iraq. Emanuel gave Lee the go-ahead anyway, over objections of Chicago alderman Will Burns, who said the title would hurt Chicago's brand, labeling as violent “whole parts of the city,” where people “already walk around with a chip on their shoulders.” Media outlets piled on Lee, a resident of Brooklyn, for focusing on the violence in Chicago. And the Huffington Post wrote a damning screed against the movie, based solely on the pre-release trailer!
