Spike Lee pays up for wrong-address tweet in Trayvon Martin case
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Spike Lee, a vocal Trayvon Martin supporter, has settled financially with a couple whose lives were radically disrupted by his recent Twitter activism.
Lee, who has more than a quarter-million Twitter followers, over the weekend retweeted a Florida address said to be that of George Zimmerman, 26, the neighborhood watch captain who fatally shot 17-year-old Martin on Feb. 26.
While Lee was criticized up front for what some saw as a call for vigilante justice — some on Twitter threatened to tweet the film director’s home address to put the shoe on the other foot — things took a twist when the address also turned out to be wrong. David and Elaine McClain, whose son is named William George Zimmerman, were forced to flee to a hotel to avoid the attention misdirected at their home.
‘I Deeply Apologize To The McClain Family For Retweeting Their Address.It Was A Mistake.Please Leave The McClain’s In Peace.Justice In Court,’ Lee said Thursday evening on Twitter, where he has since been silent. Lee had been tweeting and retweeting heavily regarding Trayvon Martin since March 17.
‘The McClains’ claim is fully resolved,’ Matt Morgan, their attorney, said in an email to Nation Now. ‘Mr. Lee personally called them to give a very heartfelt apology. Further, he agreed to compensate them for their loss and the disruption to their lives.
‘The McClains were very moved by Mr. Lee’s apology,’ Morgan said. ‘They would like the Lee family to be left in peace.
Meanwhile, Roseanne Barr jumped into the fray, according to the Smoking Gun, tweeting the correct address of Zimmerman’s parents to her 111,000 followers before deleting the info after some criticism and after realizing that posting private information without permission violates Twitter rules.
But that wasn’t the end of it. ‘If Zimmerman isn’t arrested I’ll rt his address again,’ she said, ‘maybe go 2 his house myself.’ That after saying she’d sent the address around in the first place to let people know ‘that no one can hide anymore.’
Yet, she said, ‘vigilante-ism is what killed Trayvon. I don’t support that.’
The shooting is still being investigated by Florida authorities. Zimmerman is reported to be in hiding.
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— Christie D’Zurilla
Twitter.com/dzurillaville
Christie D’Zurilla on Google+