Academy Award-winning filmmaker and longtime Knicks fan Spike Lee wanted ICE agents to avoid the championship parade if the Knicks win the NBA Finals.
Lee revealed his thoughts on a potential Knicks victory when speaking with Andscape’s Bill C. Rhoden ahead of Monday’s Game 3 against the San Antonio Spurs, which the Knicks lost.
“It’s going to be a love fest,” Lee said, “and people gonna be hugging and kissing each other. Total strangers. You know what? But we’re New Yorkers. That’s the bomb. I’m telling you, it’s going to happen. This is going to happen.”
Lee added ICE would not be welcome at the parade.
“When we win, whether it’s home or away, there’s going to be such– it’s going to be bananas,” Lee said. “It’s going to be craziness. It’s going to be love. And NYPD can’t control that. The Marines, National Guard– just don’t bring in the motherfucking ICE. No ICE. I’ve said this more than once. ICE is not welcome.”
Knicks fans rioted in New York City following the loss on Monday night. They came after the NYPD “reversed its ban on New York Knicks watch parties for the NBA Finals,” per Fox News. Problems immediately presented themselves following Game 2.
“Fans got so rowdy during the Knicks’ Eastern Conference Finals run the NYPD put a stop to watch parties outside Madison Square Garden. But when the Knicks clinched their first NBA Finals appearance since 1999, the department said the party was back on,” noted Fox News.
“After the Knicks’ 105-104 victory over the San Antonio Spurs, ABC7 reported that 17 people were arrested, including one on charges of allegedly striking a police officer and injuring him,” noted Fox News. “Police said fans became “increasingly disorderly” as the game went on, the outlet reported.”
“The officer who was injured was the victim of punches by a fan who entered and then refused to leave a restricted area,” it added.