Spike Lee Is Honoring Michael Jackson On Saturday With A Massive Bed-Stuy Block Party
We all know Spike Lee. So consistently vocal and in the public eye over his near-40 year career, there are several different umbrellas to think of Lee under: Director, Actor, Knicks die-hard, Activist. Right alongside those come his passion as a fan and scholar of the work of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. The iconic filmmaker has directed multiple documentaries on Jackson’s music, process, and being, and now, on August 27th, he’ll be hosting an enormous block party celebrating the legendary singer/dancer’s life.
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A free event, the block party, dubbed “Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson” will be held in Bed-Stuy, on Stuyvestant Avenue between Lexington and Quincy St–the exact setting of Lee’s iconic Do The Right Thing. The events’ hosts will be Lee and SiriusXM DJ Sway, while DJ Spinna will be on hand for the whole party–running from 12-6–to manage the day’s soundtrack, which surely will contain all the “P.Y.T.” and “Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough” that you could need.
It’ll be the sixth iteration of the event, which has occurred on-and-off in the years since Jackson’s untimely passing in 2009. In the time since the event first was held, Lee’s directed a pair of documentaries on Jackson, focusing on his albums Bad and Off the Wall. He also directed the video for Jackson’s posthumous single, This Is It, and worked with the singer previously on dual videos for his controversial 1996 hit, “They Don’t Care About Us,” one displaying various injustices in Brazil, and the other taking on human rights issues in the prison system.
Earlier this year, Lee held a pair of similar Bed-Stuy block parties to celebrate the life of another fallen pop hero, Prince Rogers Nelson. The first immediately took place following Prince’s passing in April, and the other just over a month later at the start of June. As one would probably expect, the parties were saturated with purple everywhere, also including full days of music, fun, and lots of media coverage. Check out Lee live from the party with CNN‘s Anderson Cooper:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PcStMcbXBCQ
In past years, special guests have shown up at “Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson,” including Snoop Dogg, among others. At last year’s party, Spike unveiled the newly-named ‘Do The Right Thing Way,’ making up a portion of Stuyvesant Avenue; the Lexington-Quincy block where the party is held is exactly where the namesake summer film was shot.
Check out video of the moment from a year ago:
“Brooklyn Loves Michael Jackson,” a free event, will take place this coming Saturday, August 27, from 12 P.M.-6 P.M. You can find it on Stuyvesant Avenue between Lexington Avenue & Quincy Street in Bed-Stuy.