Spike Lee Blames Social Media for Skyrocketing Gun Violence in Chicago

Gangsters respond to Instagram, Twitter or Facebook posts “not by typing something on their phones but by bang, bang, bang,” director tells CNN’s Anderson Cooper

CNN

Spike Lee tackles the epidemic of gun violence in Chicago in his upcoming film “Chi-Raq,” and on Wednesday the filmmaker told CNN’s Anderson Cooper that social media is partly to blame for the escalation in homicides in the city.

The controversial director appeared on “Anderson Cooper 360” beside a Chicago priest, Father Michael Pfleger, for a three-part interview in response to 9-year-old Tyshawn Lee’s brutal murder last week.

“Through Father [Pfleger], I met two of his peacekeepers who told me that social media is a major element of violence. People post something on Instagram, Twitter or Facebook and others respond to it — not by typing something on their phones but by bang, bang, bang,” Lee told Cooper.

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