Chicago Man Challenges Spike Lee Over Trademark To 'Chiraq'

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Jun 5, 2015 9:35PM

Spike Lee at a ceremony in Washington, DC. (Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Who has the rights to the word "Chiraq?" The controversial portmanteau, which marries the words Chicago and Iraq to make an unfavorable comparison between the city's violence problem and war in the Middle Eastern nation, is now the working-title of Spike Lee's new film.

But a man who has filed trademarks for the word in the state of Illinois is now telling Spike Lee he cannot use it.

Emmett Benjamin sent a letter through his attorney to Spike Lee's production company demanding he pick a new movie title, according to the Tribune. Benjamin told the Tribune he doesn't want the word to be mis-used; he has been using it at the Oak Park House of Christ Temple Divine on t-shirts, promotional materials and even in the temple charter. The charter describes a "Sovereign nation of Chi-raqi," or "persecuted black people."

Benjamin also said he wants "the people of Chicago," who he says coined the term, to receive credit for it if it's used in the movie:

"The term was originally coined by young men and women in the streets of Chicago living in the battle zone with the police and sometimes other gangs and other people," Benjamin said. "The name belongs to the people of Chicago. We are merely protecting it and holding it for them."

Legal experts told the Tribune that Benjamin's chances of securing the trademark and stopping Spike Lee from using it as his movie title are both slim. Benjamin is far from the first person to criticize Lee's use of the term Chiraq, which some believe is distasteful and insulting to Chicagoans and Iraqis.