Spike Lee Restrained at Yankee Stadium After Fan's Alleged Palestine Taunt

Director Spike Lee was restrained by staff at the Yankee Stadium during a heated altercation with a fan.

via: Complex

A video of Spike Lee being restrained at Yankee Stadium has started doing the rounds online — and it all reportedly started over comments involving Palestine.

On Wednesday (September 30), the legendary director spent the evening doing what he's done for decades, eating dinner at the New York ballpark before a playoff game. However, on this occasion he had to be held back by staff in the Legends Suite dining area.

In the viral clip, Lee can be seen being pulled away from a fan who had been filming him as he ate, hours before the New York Yankees hosted the Boston Red Sox in Game 2 of their wild-card series.

"Why'd you come over to me?" Lee can be seen shouting at the perpetrator in the clip, still dressed in his red Yankees gear.

According to Fox Sports reporter Andy Slater, people seated near the table told him that the fan was recording Lee's meal and asked him how he felt about Palestine.

The encounter escalated from there. One person who approached for a selfie is claimed to have asked Lee to say "Fuck Palestine," and Lee reportedly got up from his seat and went looking for security as his anger grew.

In the clip, a man in a checkered blue sport jacket can be seen pointing towards someone at a nearby table and telling them: "You've gotta go. You've gotta go."

According to The New York Post, Lee had walked into the suite around 6:30 P.M. Wednesday and spent the early part of the evening in a good mood, posing for selfies with anyone who asked and keeping seats open at his table in case someone wanted to sit down.

He had been at the ballpark the previous evening, too, watching the Yankees' 9-0 Game 1 win over Boston on Tuesday night (September 29) from behind the dugout alongside his daughter, Satchel.

The incident comes seven months after Lee's appearance at February's NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles, where he was spotted carrying a bag adorned with the Palestinian flag and a traditional keffiyeh.

He later said in an Instagram post that the outfit was "not intended as a gesture of hostility to Jewish people... nor was it intended as a comment on the significance of Deni being an All-Star."