Spike Lee had a recent run-in with Rosie Perez at Madison Square Garden to watch the New York Knicks play against the New Orleans Pelicans on Feb. 27.
The two actors starred in Lee’s 1989 film, “Do the Right Thing” with Lee as Mookie and Perez as Tina. The movies also starred Samuel L. Jackson, Giancarlo Esposito, Bill Nunn, Ossie Davis, Danny Aiello and John Turturro. It takes place in a Brooklyn neighborhood that has simmering racial tension between the Black community and the Italian owners of a local pizza joint. In the hit film that became an instant classic, Mookie and Tina have a son named Hector.
Lee shared a picture of the reunion on Instagram with the caption, “Flash Back-Tina and Mookie.” He continued, “And Dat’s ‘DO DA RIGHT THANG’, Truth, Ruth. YA-DIG❓SHO-NUFF @Rosieperezbrooklyn.”
After a fan asked where Mookie and Tina’s son, Hector was, Lee replied that he was in New York City’s largest jail. When a second fan questioned the fictional couple’s son’s whereabouts, Lee replied again that Hector was in Rikers Island.
“What became of y’all son Hector??” Lee replied, “Rikers,” prompting another fan to ask, “daaaang Rikers tho? Not HU…or an HBCU.” The second fan replied again with jokes, stating, “He’s in Riker’s island making top ramen pizza. Gotta get paid.” Lee responded with several laughing joking emojis.
Lee continued to engage with fans who asked questions about the film, and he did not disappoint. After one fan asked, “Do Tina let Mookie back in after he got the money from Sal? Because she said don’t come back after he left,” the “School Daze” director replied, “Tina Wuz Fed Up And Kicked MOOKIE To Da Curb.”
Quoting one of Perez’s infamous lines in the movie, one person wrote, “Trust you? The last time I trusted you, Mookie, I ended up with a son.”
Trust you? The last time I trusted you, Mookie, I ended up with a son. pic.twitter.com/fKg5dy2IfU
— Generación VHS (@generacionvhs) October 17, 2017
One fan asked if there was a chance for a “Do the Right Thing” reboot. “Could there be a reboot of Do the Right Thing?” Lee replied, “HELL TO DA NAW.”
Although Hector may be behind bars, many have suspected that the fictional character, Mars Blackmon, played by Anthony Ramos in Lee’s “She’s Gotta Have It” series remake, was Hector all grown up.
It all started when @shesgottahaveit revealed that Mars was really Mookie and Tina’s son as an adult. pic.twitter.com/MpaeyCdv1J
— Nicole Jocleen (@nicolejocleen) September 13, 2020
Perez and Lee have rebuilt their friendship over the years following controversy about their sexy nude scene in the movie. She told The New York Times in 2000 that she felt violated while filming the scene, mainly by herself because she didn’t speak up when she felt uncomfortable.
“I had a big problem with it, mainly because I was afraid of what my family would think,” she said. “That’s what was really bothering me. It wasn’t really about taking off my clothes. But I also didn’t feel good about it because the atmosphere wasn’t correct. And when Spike Lee puts ice cubes on my nipples, the reason you don’t see my head is because I’m crying. I was like, ‘I don’t want to do this.’ I felt like Irene Cara in ‘Fame.’”
The 59-year-old actress starred in another film with nude scenes in 1992 starring actor Woody Harrelson, “White Men Can’t Jump.” Perez said that she felt more comfortable doing nude scenes in that movie because she had more control.
“I felt totally comfortable, the director was so cool and Woody Harrelson was like, ‘Well, whatever you want is cool with me.’ So there I felt empowered by it. But with ‘Do the Right Thing’ it was like, ‘Now I’m the object, here’s the shot,’” she explained. “And the reason why I cried was not so much because I felt violated as, because I was angry at myself, because I wanted to say, ‘Say something! Get up!’ So that’s how I felt violated. I felt like I violated myself.”
Perez later said that she had spoken to Lee about her discomfort. He apologized, and the dynamic duo has been cool ever since.
“In our cancel culture, some people need to be canceled,” she stated in Variety’s Power of Women issue of 2023. “And when I was telling the story, people were ready to cancel Spike Lee and cancel me for saying something. And I was like, ‘You know what? This is getting out of hand.’ Here’s the thing. It happened. We discussed it, we made up, we hugged it out, and we’re still friends to this day.”
Lee and Perez also ran into each other back in 2019, and Perez shared a picture of the reunion at an art show on Instagram.
