Spike Lee Re-Edits 9/11 Series After Previously Including Conspiracy Theorists

After mounting backlash, filmmaker Spike Lee is reversing course on the last installment of his 9/11 docuseries on HBO. The fourth and final episode of NYC Epicenters: 9/11-2021½ premieres on September 11, and Lee is currently re-editing its contents, following backlash over his inclusion of conspiracy theorists. 

“I’m Back In The Editing Room And Looking At The Eighth And Final Chapter Of NYC EPICENTERS 9/11-2021½. I Respectfully Ask You To Hold Your Judgment Until You See The FINAL CUT,” Lee said in a statement posted on an HBO platform, according to The New York Times. 

The Oscar winner’s decision to re-craft the conclusion to his four-part series, which premiered on Sunday, comes after Lee himself cast doubt over the official cause given for 9/11. In an August 25 interview with The Times, Lee said he still had “questions” about the Twin Towers’ collapse 20 years ago. He also expressed hope that “Congress holds a hearing, a congressional hearing about 9/11.” (Congress did just that shortly after the attacks; the 9/11 Commission released its final report in 2004.) 

Lee continued, citing debunked theories about the true cause of the towers’ collapse: “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.”

A version of the fourth episode previously provided to the press for preview “prominently featured members of the conspiracy group Architects and Engineers for 9/11 Truth, who push the debunked idea that the towers of the World Trade Center were brought down by a controlled demolition,” The Times reports. The episode also provided a platform for scientists who discredited the conspiracy theorists’ claims after investigating the attacks. But Lee’s comments, and the episode that gave weight to both truthers and scientists, caused controversy.

Prior to reexamining the show’s ending, Lee told The Times that he trusted viewers to come to their own conclusions. “My approach is put the information in the movie and let people decide for themselves,” he said. “I respect the intelligence of the audience.”

Lee’s re-edited final episode will air on Saturday, September 11, the 20th anniversary of 9/11.

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