Hollywood director Spike Lee admits he believes in 9/11 conspiracy theory that World Trade Center skyscraper was brought down by controlled demolition not terror attack
Hollywood film maker Spike Lee says he believes in 9/11 conspiracy theories - including the claim that one building in the World Trade Center was brought down by a controlled demolition and not a terror attack.
In a recent interview with the New York Times, Lee discussed his new eight-hour documentary series 'New York Epicenters: 9/11 - 2021 1/2.' The four part installment, which first premiered on HBO on Sunday, focused primarily on New Yorkers and their reactions to the 9/11 terror attacks and the COVID pandemic.
It includes interviews with New York politicians like Senator Chuck Schumer and Mayor Bill de Blasio, along with various health care workers, firefighters and activists.
He said the New York Police Department declined to be interviewed in his documentary due to his views on police.
But the last episode also includes several members of the conspiracy group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth - a group that has suggested the United States government was involved with the collapse of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.
When Times reporter Reggie Ugwu asked Lee about the group's inclusion in the documentary series, Lee responded: '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.'
In a recent interview, director Spike Lee said he believes 9/11 conspiracy theories
He was discussing his new documentary series New York City Epicenters 9/11 to 2021 1/2, which includes interviews with a conspiracy theory group
Ugwu then asked Lee if he believes the 'official explanations' for the World Trade Center collapse on September 11, to which Lee claimed: '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,' Lee said in the interview.
'But people [are] going to make up their own mind,' he said. 'My approach is to put the information in the movie and let people decide for themselves. I respect the intelligence of the audience.'
The original WTC 7 was a 42 story building constructed in 1987, which was filmed tumbling to the ground after the Twin Towers collapsed. Some angles showed the seemingly undamaged tower collapse onto its own footprint sparked, which controlled demolition claims. But footage from the other side of the building shows a huge gash caused by falling debris.
At that point, Ugwu asked Lee why he believes in 9/11 conspiracies but does not support conspiracy theories about vaccines or the 2020 election, to which Lee quipped: 'People are going to think what they think, regardless.
'I'm not dancing around your question,' he said. 'People are going to think what they think.'
He noted: '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 just going to think what they think,' Lee said. 'And you know what? I'm still here, going on four decades of filmmaking.'
The September 11 attacks began when a plane flew into the south tower of the World Trade Center in New York City
Smoke and flames were seen billowing out of the twin towers before they ultimately collapsed
All that was left of the Twin Towers in the aftermath was steel
The wreckage of WTC7 is pictured after the 9/11 attacks - the way in which it collapsed after the Twin Towers sparked conspiracy theories it had been brought down by explosives
The new building which replaced the original World Trade Center 7 is pictured here, but the conspiracy theories continue
The controlled demolition theory has been around since the immediate aftermath of the 9/11 terror attacks, when Building 7 was hit by debris from the Twin Towers and was damaged by fires, which burned for seven hours until it was completely destroyed at about 5:20 p.m.
Some proponents of the theory suggest the building was demolished because it may have served as an operational center for the demolition of the Twin Towers, while others suggest that government insiders may have wanted to destroy files about corporate fraud.
Loose Change film producer Dylan Avery once said he thought the destruction of the building was suspicious because it housed a CIA office, an outpost of the Secret Service, the Securities and Exchange Commission and the city's emergency command center.
But United States Special Operations Command has said anyone could have rented space in the building.
The National Institute of Standards and Technology also investigated the claims and 'found no corroborating evidence for alternative hypotheses suggesting that the World Trade enter towers were brought down by controlled demolition using explosives planted prior to September 11, 2001.'
'Instead, photographs and videos from several angles clearly show that the collapse initiated at the fire and impact floors, and that the collapse progressed from initiating floors downward until the dust clouds obscured the view.'
Lee has been a top Democratic donor and has campaigned for far left politicians over the past few years.
Lee has been a major Democratic donor and has campaigned for far left politicians
In 2012, FOX reports, he hosted Obama in a fundraiser at his Manhattan home, then in 2016, he campaigned for Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders ahead of the primaries, even appearing in a radio ad for the senator.
Then in 2019, Lee hosted a sold-out fundraiser for now vice president Kamala Harris in Martha's Vineyard.
He has said the NYPD declined to be interviewed in his new documentary due to his unflattering portrayal of the police in the past.
'The only people who said no was NYPD,' Lee said in the interview. 'They don't look good in this.
'And that footage [of police officers assaulting Black Lives Matter protesters in 2020] does not lie. They were cracking heads.'
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