Arsenal Supporters Series: Spike Lee

By: Martin | November 27th, 2009

So, if you’re like me, you may have seen the “Arsenal Supporters Series” tag along the right hand of the page, and wondered “what is that?”

I’m a bit ashamed to admit–I had no idea. And I run the damn site. But one of our regular commenters, Gigi, mentioned in the comments section a few weeks ago that he had clicked on it, and wondered what happened to it. Anyway, my curiosity was piqued, so I went back and looked at them–it was a series done by a former Arsenal Offside blogger, Trent, whose identity is unknown to me, and consists of brief little posts about celebrity fans who pull for Arsenal.

Of course, it doesn’t really matter, but it is kind of cool. Not least because the celebrities who support Arsenal tend to be very cool. To name a few: Johnny Rotten (singer of the Sex Pistols), Sarah Michelle Gellar (star of my all-time favorite television show, “Buffy the Vampire Slayer”), Michael Moore (academy-award winning documentary filmmaker), Nick Hornby (author of “High Fidelity,” “About a Boy,” and his memoir of his life as an Arsenal fan, “Fever Pitch,” which you have hopefully all read), singer Steve Earle (who, in addition to his music career, also played Bubbles’s drug rehab counselor on “The Wire,” my second-favorite television show of all-time), Douglas Adams (former “Doctor Who” writer, author of “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” probably the funniest books ever written), and academy award winner Kevin Costner (he won a Best Director Oscar. Seriously.).

Good company, no? Anyway, I thought I’d pick it back up. I’m not going to go back over those, although they’re definitely worth checking out. Especially the Douglas Adams one, just for the hilarious excerpt from the Hitchhiker’s Guide regarding Arsenal.

Spike Lee is apparently a real Arsenal fan–I’d seen him at a couple of the matches, which seemed random to me, but based on the video above, he actually seems to know his stuff.

Lee is, of course, a very well-known filmmaker, and probably the foremost film commentator on race in America. He burst onto the scene with his debut, “She’s Gotta Have It,” and followed it up with what is probably his best, and best-known work, “Do the Right Thing,” for which he received an Oscar nomination for Best Screenplay. The film, controversially, was not nominated for a Best Picture Oscar, although in retrospect it certainly should have been (when’s the last time you heard anyone talk about “Born on the Fourth of July” or “My Left Foot,” both nominated for Best Picture that year?). It’s a great, great movie, vibrant, warm, provocative, and filled with a cast of colorful characters. To this day, I don’t know if there’s any film that had an ending which provoked more arguments and discussion than “Do the Right Thing.”

While he’s never quite reached the heights of “Do the Right Thing,” he’s established a career consisting of big budget fare (”Inside Man”), social commentary (”Get on the Bus,” “Malcolm X”), scathing satire (”Bamboozled”), and acclaimed documentaries (”4 Little Girls,” “When the Levees Broke”). “When the Levees Broke,” particularly, is excellent, and probably the best account to date of the effect of Hurricane Katrina upon New Orleans.

I’m not the biggest Spike Lee fan, but even his detractors have to acknowledge that, two decades into his career as a director, he’s one of the most interesting, distinctive voices in American cinema. Unlike so many Hollywood types, he’s also a legitimate sports fan–famously, he has courtside seats to New York Knicks basketball games, and rarely misses a game. In other words, he’s not the kind to say he’s an Arsenal fan because he saw a Thierry Henry highlight package–if he says he’s an Arsenal fan, he’s really a Gunner.

At any rate, Spike Lee is one of the cooler celebrity supporters a club could have, and we’re certainly happy to call him a fellow Gunner.

I’ll try to post a couple more of these, but the fact is that I only know a couple other celebrity Arsenal supporters who haven’t already been covered by Trent–if you do happen to come across an article or video where a celebrity mentions supporting Arsenal, don’t hesitate to send it along to me at arsenal@theoffside.com.

Hope everyone in the US had a good Thanksgiving is recovering suitably from your Turkey coma. I’m traveling back to NYC tomorrow, but will get a preview of the Chelsea match up either tomorrow night or Sunday morning, so look for it.