Spike Lee Is Too Cheap To Care About The Elderly People He Endangered

49.08K

Beejoli Shah

11/14/13 09:13PM

Filed to: executive assholes

Mistakes happen. In the age of the internet, these mistakes can live on a lot longer than normal, but regardless, the proper way to deal with them is almost always a gracious apology, a swift repair or repayment caused by damages, and a healthy dose of contrition. That's the best way. Then there's the Spike Lee way.

Elderly couple Elaine and David McClain are currently suing the Do The Right Thing director for a paltry $15,000 in damages, due to Lee tweeting out their address as George Zimmerman's, back in 2012. Lee apologized to the couple immediately after his misguided tweet and paid them a $10,000 settlement, but a year and a half later, the hate mail and death threats continue to pour in for the McClain's, as people are still retweeting Lee's comments.

Lee's response to the couple's lawsuit? A motion for dismissal, on grounds that the continued harassment was "foreseeable." While one could argue that Lee already settled with the couple once, the amount that they're requesting is minimal, especially given the reignited wave of backlash in the wake of the Zimmerman verdict this summer. While there is a chance that this is some sort of scheme concocted by a pair of opportunistic baby boomers, its far more likely that no one, least of all the elderly McClains, could have predicted just how long that tweet would live on in infamy.

Given that Lee just appeared on Oprah's Next Chapter, vowing not to discuss his self-labelled "stupid" actions so as not to accidentally appear as if he was defending them, this is an oddly aggressive move. $25,000 is not a lot of money to Lee. As his Kickstarter proves, his two courtside seats at Madison Square Garden are worth $10,000 a game. But hey, why appropriately compensate the nice couple whose lives you ruined, when you could watch the New York Knicks go 3-4 in their new season instead?

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

113

nopunin10did Beejoli Shah 11/14/13 11:47PM

I think we're focusing on the wrong thing here. He screwed up, apologized, and reached a settlement.
If both parties settle on something in good faith, you don't get to come back for more money. Spike Lee took no further action to harm these people.
It doesn't matter if he's a saint or an asshole, rich or poor. He paid the agreed price for his actions, and it's not cool for the plaintiffs to come back for more cash just because they underestimated the long-term damage.
They should have asked for more to begin with, and he probably would have paid it. But they all agreed to 10k in good faith, and they should stick to their legally binding promises.
We don't get to ignore the principles of the civil process just because we don't like a guy or think he's got enough money.

43

ThisMachineKillsNeoliberals nopunin10did 11/14/13 11:53PM

Shhh. What are you doing bringing in logic here? We're too busy upbraiding famous black people for their mistakes.

8

Buzz Killington nopunin10did 11/14/13 11:57PM

True, but some might say that he took advantage of their good nature by cutting them a check for a paltry $10k, when they could have easily sued him for several million and likely gotten it. And they're still not going after millions, just another $15k.

I don't think anyone is saying that he's not within his rights to refuse, just that he's making himself look like a cheap bastard.

4

Blerpp nopunin10did 11/15/13 12:03AM

I know what you're saying, and I suppose he already thought he 'did' do the right thing. When you hold the world to a higher moral standard, I suppose there is an expectation that you walk the talk.

5

nopunin10did Buzz Killington 11/15/13 12:04AM

The manner in which an amount of money is determined to be fair comes from mutual agreement between the settling parties. 10k was enough /because/ they agreed it was enough.

I'm sure other people might not think it was fair, but that fairness isn't up to us.

17

HaroldTheCat Beejoli Shah 11/14/13 09:28PM

I suspect it's not that he's too cheap to care, but rather that he simply doesn't care, period. I doubt he even feels bad about what they've gone through as a result of his stupidity. Maybe they should up the ante, and sue for millions instead. As long as there wasn't a settlement agreement barring further payment, they might win.

14

HiMyNameIsNoLongerJay HaroldTheCat 11/14/13 11:45PM

As long as there wasn't a settlement agreement barring further payment, they might win.

You don't think his lawyers really forgot to include that little clause, do you?

7

I can't wait to be dead HaroldTheCat 11/14/13 11:49PM

Exactly. I don't think it's really about the money, it's that he just doesn't care and can't relate to anything they're going through because when you're ridiculously rich and bad things happen to you, you don't feel it as much as regular people who aren't as rich. There's been a couple of studies where a group of people were asked to count large stacks of money for a certain amount of time. Afterwards a little later on, they have a person walk by them with their arms full of papers and binders. The person drops all their stuff and scrambles to collect their things, and the people who just counted and handled the money just looks at them scrambling around and keeps walking past without helping. I'm not saying having large amounts of money literally makes you a selfish person without regard for others in need, but hmm.

2

The Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabySteps HaroldTheCat 11/15/13 12:00AM

"Maybe they should up the ante, and sue for millions instead."

I hope to god they do this. He would have to hope no one like me would be on the jury.

1

PetyrBaelish The Ghost of ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ AKA BabySteps 11/15/13 05:05AM

I don't fucking get this? He already fucking settled! Is he supposed to keep giving them money whenever they ask? Or what is he supposed to be guilty of exactly? They obviously don't have a case, the key point of any settlement is that is resolves the dispute. My mind really boggles as to how Spike Lee is in the wrong here.

31

Ryan1981 Beejoli Shah 11/14/13 11:48PM

I'm pretty sure he proved he was a piece of shit asshole the second he tweeted out that address.

Also, say that address had in fact been the address for the correct Zimmerman. If a mob showed up and killed him, could Lee be liable? Or, even worse, if some harm had come to these elderly folks?

Hatless Süspęçt and 6 others Ryan1981 11/14/13 11:55PM

140 characters and a mule.

4

Mataro Ryan1981 11/14/13 11:56PM

He unthinkingly tweeted because the Internet inebriates some people, though not as a depressant but as an excitative.

15

mdzend88 Ryan1981 11/15/13 12:01AM

He'd be screaming some white dude must have hacked his phone as he'd never,ever have done any such thang.

1

Bitch Pudding Ryan1981 11/15/13 12:03AM

He was angry. I very much get how angry people were that week. It wasn't just the death, or the trial verdict, but you seriously couldn't scroll past two comments on ANY site without seeing a defense about how justice was done.

So yeah, I get it. However, that was also incredibly, incredibly stupid. Pay the people. You put their lives in active danger.

5

Porkilton Nolan Beejoli Shah 11/15/13 12:05AM

It seriously costs $10,000 just to sit courtside for one Knicks game at the Garden? Sigh. Yet another thing I can put on the "You Will Never Do This" list.

37

Ryan1981 Porkilton Nolan 11/15/13 12:15AM

It's already on my Never Want To Do List

2

JohnTChance Porkilton Nolan 11/15/13 02:09AM

I'm more surprised Spike has that kind of bank to just blow. I guess that explains why he's doing remakes of Oldboy.

Porkilton Nolan JohnTChance 11/15/13 02:46AM

I just watched the trailer for Spike's remake of Oldboy, and it annoyed me because it looks just decent enough that I'll probably watch it.

1

PetyrBaelish Porkilton Nolan 11/15/13 04:56AM

I seriously doubt he pays that much. I thought about buying world series tickets once, behind home plate and they were only like $5k. I seriously doubt courtside knicks tickets are that much. .... Yeah they're like $5k for the next game on stub hub. Some how I think Spike pays even less.