The first four installments of director Spike Lee’s eight-hour HBO docuseries NYC Epicenters 9/11-2021½ premiered on Sunday, and while the episodes centered around the 9/11 terrorist attacks include interviews with the likes of Senator Chuck Schumer, Mayor Bill de Blasio and Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Lee has also faced criticism for his inclusion of interviews with members of the 9/11 conspiracy group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth.
When pressed about it by the Reggie Ugwu of The New York Times, Lee doubled down on the decision, revealing that he himself subscribes the belief that 9/11 may have been an inside job.
“I mean, I got questions — and I hope that maybe the legacy of this documentary is that Congress holds a hearing, a congressional hearing about 9/11,” Lee said. “The amount of heat that it takes to make steel melt, that temperature’s not reached. And then the juxtaposition of the way Building 7 fell to the ground — when you put it next to other building collapses that were demolitions, it’s like you’re looking at the same thing.”
“But people going to make up their own mind,” he added. “My approach is put the information in the movie and let people decide for themselves. I respect the intelligence of the audience.”
Of course, the information debunking this conspiracy theory has been out there for almost two decades. Nonetheless, Lee also doesn’t sound too worried about what sort of impact his 9/11 conspiracies might have on his career or the credibility of NYC Epicenters.
“People are going to think what they think, regardless,” he told the Times. “I’m not dancing around your question. People are going to think what they think. People have called me a racist for Do the Right Thing. People said in Mo’ Better Blues I was anti-Semitic. She’s Gotta Have It, that was misogynist. People are going to just think what they think. And you know what? I’m still here, going on four decades of filmmaking.”
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