Obama to attend Spike Lee fundraiser in New York

NEW YORK – President Barack Obama is expected to travel to New York this week to attend a fundraiser at the home of controversial film director Spike Lee, the Associated Press reported. 

Lee is the director of films and documentaries including "Do the Right Thing," "Malcolm X" and "Inside Man."

About 40 people are expected at the Lee fundraiser, with tickets costing $35,800 per person and a campaign event at the Apollo Theater in Harlem.

Tickets to the Apollo event will start at $100 per person and there will be performances by Al Green, India.Arie and composer Lin-Manuel Miranda.

The New York Post reported the fundraising won't stop there. Obama is also expected to attend a discussion with leaders in the Jewish community at four-star restaurant Daniel on the Upper East Side. Tickets for that event cost up to $25,000. There will also be a small cocktail reception with the president that costs $15,000 per ticket.

“Daniel has hosted so many fund-raisers for Obama, it has become New York’s official Democratic dining room,” a source told the Post.

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Lee is a longtime Obama supporter but publicly criticized the president's handling of the BP spill in a 2010 interview with GQ magazine.

"I don’t know why Obama ever trusted these BP guys! They would lie to their mothers,” said Lee. '"The thing we don’t talk about is that 11 Americans lost their lives and it took seven weeks to invite their families to the White House. I’m not trying to bash my man, but that’s a long time.'"

With election season in full swing, Obama held recent fundraisers in Chicago and Washington.

Obama raised more than $220 million for his re-election campaign and the Democratic National Committee in 2011.