Spike Lee Is Being Sued by the Couple Whose Address He Tweeted

33.81K

Beejoli Shah

11/12/13 02:03PM

Filed to: spike lee

Spike Lee's Twitter account may be worth almost $450,000, but it's just one tweet in particular that may end up costing him. Back in March, angered over the Trayvon Martin shooting, Lee tweeted "EVERYBODY REPOST THIS George W. Zimmerman" and then what he thought was Zimmerman's address. In reality, it was the address of elderly couple Elaine and David McClain, who have no ties to Zimmerman or Martin.

Though Lee realized the error of his ways, his comments were retweeted thousands of time, and the damage was already done. Lee apologized to the McClains and settled with the couple for $10,000 shortly after he pulled down the tweet, but according to The Wrap, the McClains are now suing Lee for another $15,000 in damages, attorney fees, and court costs. The McClains allege that they are still continuing to receive death threats and hate mail, due to continued retweets of Lee's original tweet. (Their address, along with the tweet, is still posted online on many websites.)

Lee appeared on Oprah's Next Chapter this past weekend and called his actions "stupid," stating "There's nothing I can say that can defend that. It was stupid. S-T-O-O-P-I-D."

The following replies are approved. To see additional replies that are pending approval, click Show Pending. Warning: These may contain graphic material.

100

Nefertitties Beejoli Shah 11/12/13 02:28PM

It should never have come to this. He should have written them an enormous check and apologized a long time ago. He put their lives in danger and had no right to do that even if it had been Zimmerman's house. He's such a baby sometimes.

2

wobbob Nefertitties 11/12/13 02:29PM

He did pay them $10k in a settlement. They are now suing him again. Whether that amount is sufficient, I don't know.

15

MothraStewart Nefertitties 11/12/13 02:32PM

I am really glad you wrote that. What, like it's ok if it had been the right address? It's never going to end for them because people still are re-tweeting the address of the wrong couple. Shame on him.

2

josephbloseph Nefertitties 11/12/13 02:34PM

Well, it looks like he did cut a settlement check. What they want is a second check.

9

Sqarr Nefertitties 11/12/13 02:37PM

How many people have you seen in the media lately issuing an "apology" that actually includes an acknowledgement of how stupid their actions were?

It's a bit of a breath of fresh air, considering.

180

spete Beejoli Shah 11/12/13 02:26PM

So all they want is approximately $25,000 for Spike Lee basically sending an angry mob to their doorstep?

Pay them, you idiot, and be glad they're not asking for more.

17

BrtStlnd spete 11/12/13 02:27PM

My thoughts exactly. This seems quite reasonable.

7

wobbob spete 11/12/13 02:28PM

Well, the article says he did already pay them in the settlement.

6

Petehammer spete 11/12/13 02:28PM

Agreed except they already settled. One bite at the apple and all that.

9

Scarlett O'Heretic wobbob 11/12/13 02:34PM

They're elderly, they probably didn't know that the internet is FOREVER when they accepted that settlement. I doubt they realized they would be getting death threats for the foreseeable future.

62

PewDeWapoz Beejoli Shah 11/12/13 02:24PM

Do the Right Thing Mr. Lee

9

MissNormaDesmond PewDeWapoz 11/12/13 02:40PM

Well, now I feel dumb, because you made the only comment that was necessary. Except that, being crippled with Punctuational Obsessive Disorder, I would add a comma after "Thing".

2

MikeGreggs PewDeWapoz 11/12/13 02:42PM

5

LightsOutLockUp MissNormaDesmond 11/12/13 02:51PM

And I'd move that period inside the closing quotation marks, but that's just me.

1

MissNormaDesmond LightsOutLockUp 11/12/13 02:54PM

You are a fellow Punctuational Obsessive! God bless you. I have agonized many long nights, and ultimately decided in favor of leaving the period outside the quotation marks for singles words or short phrases. However, I accept that my approach is somewhat heretical.

13

MissNormaDesmond Beejoli Shah 11/12/13 02:38PM

I actually like Lee for the most part, but I've got no problem with this, and he shouldn't either. What he did was inexcusable, and it would have been inexcusable even if he'd had the right address. He's only lucky no one got hurt. I respect the family, by the way, because it's clear from the amount they're asking for that they're not trying to get a payday out of this, only to be made whole for their totally legitimate damages.

3

SolongeFarewell MissNormaDesmond 11/12/13 05:05PM

From what I can tell, it's not that they even want more money per se. It's that they legitimately need more money to cover the legal and security fees required to clean up the situation.

3

MissNormaDesmond SolongeFarewell 11/12/13 05:32PM

Right, $15k is a pretty modest amount; even put together with the $10k they already got, it's minimal, given the gravity of what Lee did, how badly it could have turned out, and the amount of bullshit they've been put through.