Outrage and protests continue to rage across the United States due to the killing of George Floyd. Prominent celebrities have come out to voice their support, with the latest being iconic African-American filmmaker Spike Lee.

NBC News reports on how the filmmaker noted the similarities between what happened to George Floyd and the character Radio Raheem in his 1989 film Do the Right Thing. Just like Floyd, Raheem is choked to death by a police officer in the movie, resulting in riots.

Lee revealed that Raheem’s death was based on a real incident, that of graffiti artist Michael Stewart. Stewart was killed in 1983 by New York City police offices and Lee dedicated Do the Right Thing to Stewart’s family and other victims of police brutality.

According to Lee, the death of Floyd, as well as that of Eric Garner, always reminds him of Raheem. The protests that have sprung up due to Floyd’s death have also reminded Lee of the protest actions that sprung up because of those real-life deaths.

However, Lee does note that there is a difference in the protests now compared to the previous ones that were held to demand justice for the murdered men. The New York Daily News quotes Lee as saying that the diversity of the protestors this time around has given him encouragement.

As someone who has witnessed the civil rights fight of the 1960s, Lee said he had only seen protests as diverse as this when he was a kid. He called this generation the hope of the country ad commended them for not wanting to continue the mistakes made by those who came before them. 

That diverse group of protesters that Lee talks about also includes celebrities such as Halsey, who protested alongside other citizens over the weekend to ask for justice regarding the death of George Floyd.

In her recounting of the experience, Halsey spoke about the blood and wounds that she had to tend to even if she was not qualified to do it. She recalled the police shooting rubber bullets into kneeling crowds and how the medics on site were not enough to handle all the injuries that were being sustained.

Aside from Halsey, a number of celebrities have also come out to participate in the nationwide protests. Paris Jackson, Timothee Chalamet, Miguel, Cole Sprouse, Emily Ratajkowski, Machine Gun Kelly, Kehlani, Tinashe, Ariana Grande, and Tessa Thompson.

There are hundreds of cities around the United States that have erupted into protests after the death of George Floyd. Aside from Los Angeles, these include Washington D.C., Oakland, California; Hartford, Connecticut; Miami, Florida; Honolulu, Hawaii; Boston, Massachusetts; New York City, New York; Birmingham, Alabama; Tucson, Arizona; Atlanta, Georgia; Boise, Idaho; Louisville, Kentucky; Houston, Texas; and dozens more.