warning Hi, we've moved to USCANNENBERGMEDIA.COM. Visit us there!

Neon Tommy - Annenberg digital news

Spike Lee Apologizes For Tweeting Wrong George Zimmerman Address

Reut Cohen |
March 29, 2012 | 12:11 p.m. PDT

(werthmedia, Creative Commons)
(werthmedia, Creative Commons)
Director Spike Lee has apologized for putting an elderly Florida couple in danger by posting their address on Twitter last week. Lee tweeted an address that he thought belonged to George Zimmerman, the neighborhood watchman who shot 17-year old Trayvon Martin in February.

On Wednesday night Lee tweeted an apology:

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.

According to the Orlando Sentinel, a couple from Sanford in their 70s had to move into a hotel following harassment. The Orlando Sentinel reports:

The couple's address was tweeted by a man who thought he had uncovered the address of George Zimmerman, a Neighborhood Watch coordinator who shot 17-year-old Trayvon Martin last month. The problem is, the address does not belong to Zimmerman but to the McClains, who have a son named William George Zimmerman who lived there in 1995 and still lives in Central Florida.

The Trayvon Martin case has received international attention amid growing tension.

Photos of Martin have been circulated online that suggest the media has been showing clean-cut images of the Florida teen. An image picked up by Yahoo News! and Drudge shows Trayvon Martin wearing gold on his teeth. Some bloggers have suggested that Martin was not as innocent as the media presented him and likely instigated the violence with Zimmeman.

In response Martin's family lawyer pointed to a new police video that shows Martin’s killer after his clash with the Florida teen. The quality of the video isn't very high. However, Zimmerman, who told police he suffered a broken nose and had his head smashed into a sidewalk by Martin, does not appear injured in the video.

Earlier this week a group that calls itself the New Black Panther Party offered $10,000 to anyone who can make a citizen’s arrest of Zimmerman, raising concern about vigilantism in the aftermath of the shooting.

 

Reach Reut Cohen here or follow her on Twitter.



 

Buzz

Craig Gillespie directed this true story about "the most daring rescue mission in the history of the U.S. Coast Guard.”

Watch USC Annenberg Media's live State of the Union recap and analysis here.