Spike Lee on Knicks' Future & Bronx vs. Brooklyn | Extended Interview | DESUS & MERO

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[MUSIC PLAYING]
That's right, you cowards.
Yo, today we got an Academy Award-winning,
iconic filmmaker, and legendary New Yorker.
What's his name?
- Spike Lee, you cowards. - That's right.
Give it up for the ultimate Knicks fan.
Whoo!
Whoo!
Spike, my brother!
Oh, hail greatness.
My guy.
What's up?
Spike Lee in the building, y'all.
Yes, sir.
Spike, let's get down to the brass tacks right away.
How you feeling about the 2019 NBA draft?
I really wanted Zion.
MERO: Yeah, I know.
And no disrespect, his teammate, Duke, Barrett.
DESUS: RJ.
People forget that Michael Jordan was a number three pick.
That's right.
So we have hope.
So we have hope.
I have confidence in the New York
Knickerbockers' front office.
And we gotta get back to--
DESUS: Our winning ways?
Ooh. MERO: Chop it up, bro.
Chop it up. Chop it up.
When did we have winning ways, though?
Chop it up. I'm ready.
[SNORTING] - Well.
- I'm ready for the next coke. - Mero, what's up?
- Give me that Knicks coke. - Give me some hope, Spike.
Give me that Knicks coke. I need it.
- Spike, listen. - I need it.
When people think of Knicks fans, they think of us.
They're like, why do you guys still--
or why you guys still Knicks fans?
Why are you still a Knicks fan?
Because I grew up with what Will Frazier,
Dave DeBusschere, Bill Bradley, Coach Red Holzman, Willis Reed,
Cazzie Russell.
MERO: I talked to him.
I mean, that was a game 7.
May 8, 1970, the Willis Reed game, I was there
Mhm.
SPIKE LEE: The first championship.
MERO: And by the way, the other day was the 25th anniversary
of when Scottie Pippen dunked on Pat Ewing
and tried to get in your face.
And you was like, I think-- - No, no.
MERO: You said something to the effect of like,
yo, get the fuck out of here.
I'll fuck you up, Scottie.
No, no. You're getting--
It was something like that.
You're getting me mixed up with somebody else.
[LAUGHING]
Like, I don't--
I don't remember that happening.
SPIKE LEE: No, what it was is that after--
it was a great dunk.
But then he stepped over Patrick.
And then I was telling the ref that should be a fake.
And they called it. - Yeah.
Yeah, so they called it.
OK.
That's right, you know what I'm saying?
But I got--
a lot of people-- getting a lot of people
telling me about that 20th anniversary, so.
Yeah.
But look, me and Scottie have always been cool.
Mhm.
So the only thing they got accelerated was the,
you know, the thing with Reggie.
But for me, it is always--
here's the thing though.
People-- and again, me a Reggie are cool.
But it wasn't this.
He had was this and one hand was on his--
Nuts.
MERO: Whoo!
Ooh.
Oh, that's different.
And so that's that's--
That's different.
That's like, yeah. SPIKE LEE: That's--
DESUS: That's not some three-for-three shit.
That's like thirty--
That was the jump-off.
Yeah, that's-- we scrapping--
That was the jump-off.
It was not just that.
But that's history.
Me and Reggie are mad cool, so.
MERO: You never wrote something on somebody's belly button
tattoo?
Never knew about it.
You never been like, you, my man.
- Never, never. - What is that?
He got a sunflower around his belly button.
I never did that, never brought up his sister Cheryl.
So I mean, I've never gotten personal with him.
Yo, like, yo-- shows us the-- [INTERPOSING VOICES]
DESUS: You never-- you could have.
You just never have.
It's disrespectful, you know.
I mean, look--
MERO: You just got it in your back pocket
just in case he doesn't another crotch grab.
No, no.
[LAUGHING]
That stuff was a long, long, long time--
I just think that, you know, I'm very fortunate.
Because when I was going to the Garden,
I was in the blue seats, you know, so.
To sit where I sit, you know, I respect the players.
And, you know, I want the Knicks to win.
But I'm not going to disrespect them.
Are you going to one day buy the Knicks?
MERO: Please do.
You got to have--
you got to speak to brotherman, who just donated, who--
Dre [INAUDIBLE].
DESUS: No.
Robert.
MERO: Oh, they donated to Morehouse.
DESUS: That guy from-- the Morehouse guy.
SPIKE LEE: Yeah, 40 mil, yeah, he paid everyone's tuition.
DESUS: But I think he's like trying to help--
like it would seem like a big waste of money
to buy the Knicks.
Like, that's not really helping the black community.
First of all, the Knicks aren't for sale.
Dolan said if you bring the right amount--
SPIKE LEE: He is not selling the Knicks nor the Rangers.
DESUS: Well, as a Knicks fan, I like to believe lies.
So I have to go with this.
You know what I'm saying?
What lies you believe in?
That he will one day sell the Knicks.
I have a Kevin Durant Knicks jersey already.
SPIKE LEE: You got one?
- I already got one. - You wearing it?
And I got a Kimble one.
And I wear them both at the same time, layered.
Don't be jinxing stuff, man.
[LAUGHING]
I don't like to tell you about nothing before it happens.
Listen--
But I was really--
I thought that, you know, the draft when it got
down to the last three, I thought
for sure that Zion was gonna--
MERO: When the Lakers got over four, we were like, yeah!
And then our Xanadu turned into a waterloo.
Yep.
But here's the thing though--
what does Anthony Davis want to do?
And that's the thing.
That's another question I was going to ask you.
Do keep the pick and pick Barrett?
Or do you try to trade the pick and get somebody else?
Get you an AD, you know what I mean?
But do you want AD?
Hell yeah.
The motherfucker's 7'7'' can dribble and dunk on everybody.
I'm just saying, like, OK, yes, he's a guaranteed
superstar and everything.
But what is his upside?
SPIKE LEE: He's a max player.
But what's his upside?
Like, what do-- are we gonna get as
much as we can get from this potential trading
these players?
I'm sorry, how old-- how young is he?
The guy--
But doesn't he get hurt pretty often?
Man.
Yes.
He can ball.
He can ball if he stays healthy.
MERO: He's certified.
So let me ask you a question-- if we have two max contracts,
who are you going to get?
I'm just saying, like, we have to think
about this because the Knicks-- SPIKE LEE: All right.
I'm asking you a question.
The Knicks love to [INAUDIBLE]..
We have two--
[INTERPOSING VOICES]
We've got two max--
name me your one.
I want KD.
I want KD and Kemba.
What happened to Kyrie?
MERO: Look, look. - Uh, Kyrie.
I'm asking a question.
I'm gonna answer the question, Spike.
MERO: I like Kyrie. - All right.
Now you're not Spike Lee, the director.
You're Spike Lee in the barbershop, my nigga.
All right?
MERO: Look, look.
Kyrie-- we fuck with Kyrie.
Why you call me the N-word, yo?
[LAUGHING]
Yo.
Why you call me the N-word on national television.
I'm sorry. I'm passionate.
I've been this way since since they traded Sprewell.
MERO: Yo, we fuck with-- - That was--
MERO: We fuck with Kyrie.
What about-- we traded Patrick before that, though.
Yeah.
Why Patrick can't be a coach, Knicks?
So where-- my man's gonna be the coach of Michigan.
Who?
Who was on the--
tell me. AUDIENCE: Juwan Howard.
Oh, Juwan Howard?
Yeah.
Juwan Howard, yeah, he deserved it.
Shout out to him.
I thought he went straight from the League
to coaching in college.
Because that motherfucker been in the League
for like 38 years.
I thought he was still playing to be honest.
Facts.
I thought he was just going to show up and like--
Desus come off the bench for the Knicks one day,
like, oh, shoot.
I'd be like, oh, shoot, we signed him?
Oh, shit.
But no, so Kemba Walker and--
And KD.
KD.
You think KD's coming?
I had strong feelings earlier.
But now I'm hearing rumors about he's going to the Nets.
And I'm like, oh, god.
Yeah, that would be disastrous.
- That would hurt. - No, he wouldn't--
- That would hurt. - He wouldn't do that.
That would hurt.
Knicks fans, would that not hurt?
AUDIENCE: Yeah. - Yeah.
Can you imagine like a Nets fan talking shit to you, bro?
That would have been like--
In front of the Shake Shack at Barclays?
Get the fuck out of here.
That would have been like Manny
Machado signing with the Mets, B.
Like, we would have been sick.
Whoever comes to the Knicks and helps
us win our first world championships since the '73--
Jesus Christ.
--'72, '73 season, is going to be like--
There's not-- there's nothing you can compare it to.
MERO: There's nothing comparable.
DESUS: We about to get [INAUDIBLE] the fuck out
of here.
But who-- someone has to want to do that though.
You know, where you are going to be
the person that took the orange and blue,
the Knickerbockers to the--
I don't want to make it spicy.
You know, I'm just saying, LeBron didn't
have the heart to try it, so.
Hey, It worked out for him.
Did it?
Because he's driving around in a Kia.
Yo, don't-- don't believe all the commercials you see.
That motherfucker's in a Bentley.
[LAUGHING]
He got the Kia--
He's got all the kids and his wife in a Kia, like, yeah.
No, don't believe all the commercials, people.
Whoever wants to come to New York,
has to understand the history.
And your place in history will be
enshrined forever to lead the Knicks to the promised land.
DESUS: That's true. That's true.
[INAUDIBLE].
So we've got two max players.
Who are they, you know--
What two players would you like to see?
I want to see KD.
Mhm.
And I love Kyrie.
But what happened in Boston in the playoffs,
and the players are talking.
You know, it's kind of--
MERO: It's a little shaky.
That's the thing.
If it is, like, do you want that?
I mean, if what we read and what we hear that the players,
you know, like, then that's something that has to be
in the-- but I have faith in the New York Knicks front
office to see if, you know.
But Kemba's-- where's Kemba?
He's from the Bronx, right? DESUS: Yeah.
MERO: All day, Soudview we out here
BX all day, all right.
You already know.
So I've always, always loved his game.
You know, we playing for the Gauchos.
You know what I'm saying?
True New Yorker.
But you calling us back for the fight?
Well.
So we also-- again, there's no guarantee
that we're going to get--
MERO: We're going to end up with Terry Rozier in one
of the markets, one of the Collins twins,
or one of the Plumlees.
Do not--
[LAUGHING]
The Duke Plumlees?
[LAUGHING]
The Dukies?
I don't know, don't know.
You must have been to Bangkok to smoke something.
You said, the Plumlees.
Look, I just set the bar really
low so that I'm pleasantly surprised
when we get somebody that's--
SPIKE LEE: I have faith in the New York Knicks front office
that they're gonna do the job that
needs to be done to get us in the playoffs--
at least the playoffs. DESUS: That's, listen.
MERO: At least-- that's all we want.
DESUS: At least.
Let us smell the playoffs.
And I love coach too.
Yeah. Oh, Fizdale.
MERO: Shout out to Coach Fiz.
You know, and I like our young players.
So we got to- we've got to move on.
We're trying to get an EGOT.
How do we do--
give us a hint for the Oscar.
Like, what can we do?
Like what-- you got any old screenplays you
want to give us or something?
Like, how--
MERO: You know what I'm saying? DESUS: Do the right thing too.
Do-- - I'll tell you what--
DESUS: Do one of the right things.
I'll tell you what I tell my students at NYU.
There are no shortcuts.
That's not what we want to hear, Spike.
[LAUGHING]
We want to hear [INAUDIBLE].
You sound like my students.
[LAUGHING]
- I don't want to hear this. - Nah.
Tell me the formula.
Nah.
I've kind of got the formula.
The formula is hard work.
DESUS: No.
I kind of got the formula.
No half-stepping.
DESUS: Rosie Perez--
SPIKE LEE: No backsliding.
nipples-- the ice.
That was my third film.
And it worked.
We've seen it the other day.
We're still talking about it.
She was like, I don't want to talk about it no more.
Who, Rosie? DESUS: Yeah, Rosie.
She did a FYC thing.
What?
- For your consideration. - Well, yeah, yeah.
MERO: We doing every panel now, Spike.
You know what I'm saying?
Nah, no.
You know, props to Rosie.
That was her first film, still lives in Fort Greene.
You know, Rosie's, you know, we've been great friends.
In fact, this June 30, I'm going to want you guys to come.
June 30 will be the 30th anniversary
of "Do the Right Thing."
Nice.
And so we'll invite you to the block party.
- Word? - Yeah.
Everybody, the whole gang gonna be there?
Yeah.
- Turturro, everybody? - Hopefully.
Yeah.
And it's open to the public.
That's right.
"Do the Right Thing" was shot on one block.
Mhm.
And several years ago, New York City renamed that block
Do the Right Thing Way.
DESUS: OK.
The first time it's ever been done in the history
of the city for a film.
And it's in Bed-Stuy, do or die, so.
DESUS: Come through.
Check out my Instagram.
June 30 is going to be one of the big culture events
in New York City this summer-- June 30.
That's right.
I'm gonna throw a garbage can through that window.
Whoo, boy!
What?
Sal's burnt down.
You're late.
Oh, I didn't say a pizzeria.
I'm just gonna throw a garbage hand through a window.
That shit might be an artisanal coffee shop, be like, ah!
Ah!
Fuck that Gregory's coffee.
It's called Bed-Stuy, do or die.
Do or die.
So don't be throwing no--
Well, not everyone in Bed-Stuy at this--
it was called Bed-Stuy, do or die,
at a certain period in time.
Now it's called Bed-Stuy, hi, please,
my child has peanut allergies, so.
[LAUGHING]
MERO: That's not--
Sadly true.
OK.
I'm leaving a post-it on your door.
Sadly true.
Oh, man.
But also, you know, we were talking about gentrification.
I wrote that script in 1988.
You remember that scene with John
Savage wearing that Larry Bird.
MERO: Larry Bird jersey, yeah.
That's about gentrification.
The film came out in '89.
DESUS: You was warning them.
30 years ago!
We were talking about polar caps melting,
global warming, all that stuff.
So yeah, I mean, you look at, very sadly,
Radio Raheem and Eric Garner.
Yeah.
I was right there.
I mean, man, we had the crystal ball, a lot
of that stuff in that film.
DESUS: What's it like putting those messages
in films and mass parts of the audience just not getting it?
Because I think the majority, we saw it, and we got it.
Well, I think that several of my films,
you know, people did not get it right away.
One of my most--
I think, the film that people loved more than anything
I've done is "Crooklyn."
DESUS: Mhm.
MERO: Mhm.
And when the film came out, and there's
a scene when it's like, when the scene
where Troy goes down south.
And we shot it with anamorphic lenses.
People did not understand that.
They were like going up to the projector and banging on it.
And now people love it.
So sometimes, you know, people just gotta catch up with stuff.
I mean, but I've been saying the phrase "wake
up" started in the second film.
That was '88.
DESUS: Damn.
'88, so you know, we've been doing this for a minute.
MERO: I'm very broke.
So I can't send none of my kids-- well,
I'm not broke-broke.
But I don't got send all four of my kids to NYU money.
What is something I can tell them, Spike Lee said this?
How old are they?
MERO: 8, 5, 3, and 2.
Because my oldest son--
my oldest son, he's already-- he's eight.
And he's already like, yo, I'm writing scripts.
I'm writing screenplays.
SPIKE LEE: Encourage him. - Yeah.
But here's the thing though.
I don't think it's-- for me, it should not be--
if I may say this-- that not because--
do this because you want it, because you love it,
not because you think it's gonna make money for you.
MERO: Right.
I mean, because that's the--
for me, that's the gravy.
I never-- I'm doing this because I love doing it.
All the other stuff is just, you know, a benefit.
But I never decided I'm gonna be a filmmaker, like, I wanted to
because I want to make money.
That never, ever entered my thought process.
So you're saying we shouldn't make "Color
Purple 2" with Amy Schumer?
With who?
[LAUGHING]
First of all, you make that film,
you better speak to Mrs. Steven Spielberg first.
Ah, we'll clear it up afterwards.
MERO: I've got Oprah on the phone right now.
DESUS: Yo, O, we back in business.
You have to speak to Mrs. Spielberg first.
He'll be like, Desus who?
I'll be like, Spike said it was a good idea.
[LAUGHING]
And Spielberg knows that--
That you should know the thing?
That you cannot pin it on me.
He'll be like, who, Spike Jones?
But it's refreshing to hear that after all these years
that you just doing it for the love, man.
But them Nike checks be hitting though.
But here's the thing though.
I always knew that I wanted to.
As a famous line from one of my favorite films,
"The Godfather," if I'm an artist and making work,
I want to wet my beak and make money from my art.
But that was not--
I must say, I want to be a filmmaker so I
can be famous or make money.
That was never, ever--
You just had a vision you wanted to share with the world?
It happened at Morehouse, where
I decided at the summer between my sophomore and junior years
that I always had the--
and not chosen a major.
And my advisor told me, don't come back to school in the fall
for you junior without thinking about the major.
And I decided mass communications,
took those classes at Clark College
and a great teacher, professor.
Herbert Eichelberger was still teaching there, encouraged
me to be a filmmaker.
And that's-- finished Morehouse.
Came back to school going to NYU.
My class-- my classmates, Ernest Dickerson and Ang Lee,
all in the same class.
And so you know, getting it done since then.
Facts.
And what about the acting?
Because you've acted in a lot of your films.
So it's like-- - Yeah, yeah.
But that was--
Was it just a circumstance?
That was a humble--
I cannot-- "She's Gotta Have It,"
the Mars Blackmon character, we couldn't afford to pay anybody.
So I just--
DESUS: Yeah, you was like, I'll do it myself.
I'll do it.
And then Bill Davenport and Jim Riswold, who worked at Nike,
saw the film.
And they started a deal.
They called me up.
It was their idea to pair MJ and myself.
And you know, the rest is history.
You still cool with MJ?
Yeah, mad cool.
You text him like, yo, that earring looks stupid?
That what?
That earring?
We don't have that type of relationship.
Oh, I was just gonna ask.
I gotta ask.
You guys can make jokes on air because you
don't know the brother.
Ah! Yeah, we know.
We'll see if he's gonna choke us out.
And then also, MJ was born in Fort Greene too.
DESUS: Mhm. MERO: Facts, yeah.
DESUS: I mean, listen--
Whoa, whoa, Cumberland Hospital--
him, Bernard King, Albert King, and Mike Tyson.
Ooh.
All born in Cumberland Hospital,
Fort Greene, the People's Republic of Brooklyn, New York.
That's cool.
But I was born in Lincoln Hospital with Hell Rell.
What's up?
Uh-uh, BX, you know what it is.
Uh-uh.
[LAUGHING]
Oh, well, the days of Brooklyn and the Bronx beefing
are long gone.
MERO: Oh, yeah, for sure, long gone.
DESUS: But the the Bronx won.
Love-- what?
The Bronx won.
What'd you win?
We won!
[LAUGHING]
We won.
The Bronx won.
Name a rapper--
Hell Rell, Cardi B.
But what about Biggie and Jay-Z?
What two you got?
All right.
No, what two do you have?
Biggie and Jay-Z.
- You know what? - What?
I'mma tell you. SPIKE LEE: What?
I'mma tell you.
I'mma tell you.
But I'mma tell you in an acronym.
I'mma tell you the acronym.
[LAUGHING]
I'mma tell, yo--
Brooklyn in the house!
MERO: Spike, I'mma tell you the acronym.
Brooklyn in the house.
MERO: You got-- that's true.
You got Biggie.
You got J.
SPIKE LEE: Right.
But knowledge reigns supreme over nearly everybody.
Can I just say this though.
[LAUGHING]
Because we don't have that much time.
But I have to give respect to the Boogie Down--
You know what I'm saying, BDB.
--the birthplace of hip hop.
People don't realize this.
It was Puerto Ricans and African-Americans
that created this art form.
DESUS: Yes.
[APPLAUSE]
In the Boogie Down Bronx, young brothers
and sisters, black and Puerto Rican boricuas
created this art form.
which has changed the world.
DESUS: Mhm.
And you know, people forget like where shit started.
DESUS: Yeah.
Who created this?
Where'd it start?
And so I never had a problem with the Bronx, ever.
And we never had, like, fam, we're in the Bronx.
It's too far to go to Brooklyn, so.
Well, it's too much.
It's like, I know I've got an hour and 1/2 on the train.
Whoa, whoa, tell the truth.
Tell the truth.
Growing up, you live in the Bronx too?
MERO: Yeah.
If a fine sister lived in Brooklyn, what would happen?
I guess I'm on that train to pick houses.
No, no, no, no.
It's GI-- graphically inconvenient.
Ah, no, no, no, different times.
Whoa, whoa, whoa, tell the truth.
Tell the truth.
I ain't gonna lie to you, brother.
I went to-- DESUS: Have you trooped?
You ever trooped? - I troop.
I troop. I troop.
I took the 2 train.
I thought this train only ran in the Bronx.
[LAUGHING]
Until I got off at Franklin Ave--
Franklin Avenue?
And I was like, this ain't the Bronx.
[LAUGHING]
DESUS: I remember I took the 4 to Utica.
And shorty said, get off, take a dollar van,
and then take another dollar van.
MERO: Ah!
DESUS: And I was like, I'll see you in 20 minutes.
[LAUGHING]
- So you went anyway? - I went.
There was mad niggas in front of the building.
You know what I mean?
I had to play it off and shit.
SPIKE LEE: They didn't say, where you from?
I was ah, I did the--
I was like, sup, man?
[LAUGHING]
Yo, you here to see Tanesha?
Nah, nah, nah.
That's my cousin.
I went out with her in fourth grade.
You violated her.
You know what I'm saying?
She still fucks with me, yo.
That's my boo. That's my wiz.
Nah, nah, not me.
That was a--
DESUS: That was a moment.
GI.
GI.
You never GI'd to the Bronx?
Go to Yankee Stadium.
[LAUGHING]
That was it.
I mean--
Nothing buns-related?
To go to Bronx--
For some-- for some cheeks?
I lived in Brooklyn.
Why I gotta go to Bronx?
DESUS: You didn't want to go to like, Act
III or Skate Key or something?
The what?
Skate Key?
What's that?
- Oh, we got some issues. - What, rollers?
The Skate Key.
It's a roller rink in the Bronx.
It was kind of a roller rink.
But it was also a gang arena.
So it's like, depending on what type you went.
MERO: It's like Medieval Times for the hood.
And why should I have been?
I'm glad I ain't go.
Because that shit was popping.
We was in there without the fucking--
what was the-- what was the hats?
MERO: The little derbies.
- The derbies. - With the coogies?
- Come on, man. - Ooh.
- Come on, yo. - That's all right.
I'm glad I missed nothing.
[LAUGHING]
Ah, man.
Spike, we could sit here and talk to you forever.
We know you got places to go.
You're a busy man.
So at the end of every interview,
we ask people with their neon sign
to say-- you're a New Yorker.
You know what it is.
Every bodega has a neon sign, hot foods.
You know, don't let this guy get credit.
He's not going to pay us back.
What would your neon sign say?
"Do the Right Thing."
Good one.
Man, Spike Lee, y'all.
Yo, thank you, Spike.
Yo, "She's Gotta Have It" is streaming on Netflix right now.
Watch that shit.
Spike Lee in the building-- give it up for the legend,
y'all. - Thank you.
Yeah.
[APPLAUSE]
Thank you.
Thank you.
Yo, my man.
You guys got to do a movie, you know.
What movie should we do?
Should write it.
Ah, now we got to write it.
See?
Eh.
Let's do "Belly 2--
More Belly."
Nah, something original.
"Malcolm X 2."
Something original.
"Outside Man."
[LAUGHING]
Something original!
[MUSIC PLAYING]