Former D.C. Mayor Marion Barry is best known nationally for having been arrested for smoking crack long before anyone had ever heard of Toronto Mayor Rob Ford. Barry has nonetheless remained a towering figure in D.C. city politics for decades. Now a city councilman, Barry took to social media to express his displeasure with HBO’s planned movie about his life.
In his rant he calls out HBO, director Spike Lee, “12 Years a Slave” producer John Ridley, D.C. crime novelist George Pelecanos who has also written episodes of “The Wire” for HBO, and NBC4 reporter Tom Sherwood. Barry had met with Ridley about the HBO project but decided not to support it. The Washington City Paper reports:
Barry says he turned against the HBO project after having dinner with John Ridley, the Oscar-winning screenwriter of 12 Years a Slave who was attached to the project with Spike Lee as the director. Barry says he was unhappy with how Ridley planned to portray his arrest at the Vista Hotel for smoking crack.
Ridley and Pelecanos are attached to the project as writers and Sherwood is a consultant. Barry reportedly plans to sell the movie rights to his autobiography for another biopic.
http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/462227114381824000 http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/462228124974206976 http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/462229378974646272 http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/462230770397245440 http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/462249278434721793 http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/462310600719478784 http://twitter.com/#!/marionbarryjr/status/462331382522740736***
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