Spike Lee is making the rounds promoting his next film, “Chi-Raq,” and while the acclaimed director is receiving plenty of publicity in advance of the movie’s release, it’s been mixed, at best.

Lee has been praised for addressing the rising murder endemic in the city. But he’s also been accused of making light of the domestic tragedy, particularly with his casting of Nick Cannon as a gangster and his use of satire to tell the tale. The film, in part, is inspired by a Greek play, “Lysistrata,” where women withhold sex from their mates in an effort to advance their cause.

The outspoken Lee, however, who was bestowed an honorary Oscar at the Governors Award for his career (he has yet to win an Oscar), explained his goal is not to provoke nor even earn gold trophies. He has a more urgent goal in mind.

“It’s really not about awards. I’m going to save lives. There’s people being shot on the streets of Chicago daily. It’s not just Chicago, it’s happening in cities all over America,” he told The Hollywood Reporter. “It’s happening in L.A., New York—what’s Baltimore called? Bodymore, Murderland. What’s Philadelphia called? Killadelphia. There’s a major part of this film that’s about guns in our country. What is it going to take for we as people, and supposedly the most civilized country on Earth, to stop this madness? The NRA is not bigger than the United States of America.”

The director was a guest at the 2015 REVOLT Music Conference and took part in our first film festival, which you can view below.

“Chi-Raq” is due in theaters December 4.