Taking Shots With Spike Lee and His Arsenal Fan Club: “It’s Always Electric When He Shows Up”

Lee’s location manager Tim Stacker was waiting for us at one of three tables in the back marked reserved. Shortly after kickoff, we were joined by Lee’s son, Jackson, and his friend.

There was a festival atmosphere at FancyFree in the buildup to the match, with chants and songs ringing out sporadically. But all the buzzy excitement was paired with a healthy dose of fear.

In the previous two campaigns, Arsenal came up agonizingly short in its bid to dethrone Manchester City, a veritable juggernaut and the four-time defending Premier League champions. Gooner nerves were running high—including my own. I had accompanied Lee that day on assignment, but as a proud (and at-times tortured) Arsenal supporter myself, I was hardly an unbiased observer.

Sitting next to Lee, I asked if his fandom ever got in the way of his work. Has he ever been stuck on set during, say, a Knicks playoff game? Not a chance. In those circumstances, Lee told me that the cast and crew know “it’s not going to be a long day.”

“They know they’re going home early,” he said.

The match began inauspiciously for Arsenal, as the indomitable Erling Haaland found the back of the net in the ninth minute to give Manchester City an early 1-0 lead.

“How tall is he?” Lee asked me.

“6’4,” I said.

“Big guy.”

Lee looked on as the City players mobbed Haaland, whose imposing frame and long blond hair evoke an ancient warrior.

“Where’s he from?” he asked.

“Norway,” I said.

He glanced at the screen, assessing Haaland as if he were casting for a nordic Spike Lee joint.

“Viking!” he said with a smile.

Arsenal leveled the scoreline in the 22nd off a majestic goal by Riccardo Calafiori, and then took a 2-1 lead just before halftime off a thumping header by Gabriel Magalhães. FancyFree was in full voice and Lee, who had been working on a plate of waffles, stood up to exchange celebratory high fives.

Arsenal were poised to go into intermission with a lead, as Lee and the rest of the Arsenal faithful bayed for the ref to end the first half.

“Blow the whistle!” he yelled. “Fuckin’ bullshit here. Halftime!”

Looking ahead to the second half, Lee said that Arsenal “can’t just play defensive.”

“They still gotta go for it,” he said.

But moments before the first half ended, Arsenal were dealt a stunning blow, as Leandro Trossard picked up a controversial second yellow card, leading to his dismissal from the match. The exuberance that followed Arsenal’s second goal gave way to confusion and outrage at FancyFree.

“What?!” Lee yelled.

The call sullied the halftime mood, as Lee and the other fans contemplated the task of playing the final 45 minutes down a man. Arsenal would have no choice but to play on the defense—or “park the bus,” to use a common soccer parlance.

But the beer kept flowing, and so did the banter. Looking up from the table, Lee spotted Jason Andrew, the Brooklyn Invincibles cofounder, weaving through the crowd. “Where you going?” Lee asked. Andrew smiled, and pointed to his seat near the front of the bar. Lee’s presence was felt at FancyFree that day, but there were no selfie-seekers. He was a VIP among the masses.