May 23, 2024
Giancarlo Esposito Revisits Iconic Scene From ‘Do the Right Thing’ 35 Years Later
Giancarlo Esposito recreated his iconic Jordan shoe scuff scene from "Do the Right Thing" 35 years after the film's release.
Giancarlo Esposito recreated his iconic Jordan shoe scuff scene from “Do the Right Thing” 35 years after the film’s release.
The “Breaking Bad” star recently teamed up with NBA Shooting Coach Chris “Lethal Shooter” Matthews to revive one of the more popular scenes from Spike Lee’s 1989 cult classic “Do the Right Thing.”
Esposito tapped back into his character, “Buggin’ Out,” to show a new generation why the movie scene was so memorable.
Matthews recreated the scene to give Esposito flowers for his 40+ years of acting and appearances in projects that resonate with diverse audiences.
Matthews tweeted, “35years later, Buggin Out still getting his Jordan’s scuffed!!🤣🤣🤣.” “Giancarlo Esposito is a living legend we don’t give his flowers to enough. We love you, brother.👏🏾”
“YO! Still mad about that guy scuffing my Jordans. Always a blast with you brother @LethalShooter__,” Esposito tweeted in response.
The two-time Critics Choice Award winner reiterated every line of the popular scene, including Buggin’ Out’s infamous “YO” and “You Stepped on my brand new white Air Jordans that I just bought!”
“What you doing in my neighborhood? On my block. On my side of the street?!” Esposito recited.
After telling his opposition to “go back to Massachusetts,” the Jordan scuffer said, “I was born in Louisiana.”
“Awwwwwwww,” Esposito and his crew shouted back.
The comical scene was a complete re-do of Esposito’s Jordan scuff scene 35 years earlier, which Lee used to tackle the issue of gentrification in Brooklyn, New York. In the original scene shot with John Savage, Esposito’s Buggin’ Out confronts the white male who destroyed his Air Jordans with his bicycle.
When the white male informs Buggin’ Out that he owns the brownstone building they were arguing in front of, Buggin’ Out tells him to “go back to Massachusetts.” The only thing is that the white male was born and raised in Brooklyn.
It has been decades since Esposito’s role in “Do the Right Thing,” but he still recalls how impactful the film was to him.
“My background is half-Italian and in those days, being a lighter-skinned Black man, I couldn’t get cast as a white person or a Black person,” Esposito told The Guardian in 2014.
“So I was playing Spanish roles. This follows me to this day: a lot of people are shocked to realize Buggin’ Out and Gus Fring [from Breaking Bad] are the same person. So Spike gave me the opportunity to play Black. During the scene with John Savage, when he steps on my new sneakers, Spike said: “It’s good, but you talk too fast; you gotta slow it down a little.” I said: “Buggin’ Out talks fast!” I got the vote of confidence from Spike to do the role how I wanted to.”
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