Do The Right Thing director Spike Lee has been championing the call for justice in the shooting of Trayvon Martin. For weeks, Lee’s Twitter stream has consisted of countless messages about Trayvon. However, recently the 55-year-old Brooklyn native went, by what many are calling ‘a step too far,’ when he retweeted the wrong address for Trayon’s shooter.
Days ago, Lee retweeted what he thought was the correct address for George Zimmerman, inviting nearly 250,000 followers to “feel free to reach out and touch him.” But the address that he sent out was actually that of a Florida couple who are in their 70s.
The address was of a house owned by another man named George Zimmerman, who is not the shooter of Trayvon Martin and hasn’t lived at the address for seven years. His mother, Elaine McClain, a 70-year-old school cafeteria lunch lady, who has a heart condition and her husband, David McClain, 72 years old currently live there.
According to The Smoking Gun the couple felt “afraid” when they began receiving hate mail. “We’re keeping everything locked,” Mrs. McClain said.
The original message that Lee retweeted, was from 33-year-old Los Angeles native Marcus Davonne Higgins, and was initially sent to several celebrities including Lee, LeBron James and 50 Cent.
Elaine McClain identified William George Zimmerman as her son, noting that he has not lived at the residence for seven years. “He is six-foot-five and thin as a rail,” McClain said of her son, who now lives elsewhere in Seminole County. McClain said she was previously married to a man named Zimmerman, but that he was not related in any fashion to the Zimmerman who shot Martin.
The controversial retweet has since been removed from Lee’s account, however the “Malcolm X” director has recently been attacked with numerous racists rants on Twitter. Yesterday he spoke out about the public lashing he has received for retweeting the incorrect address.
“People,The Thinking Behind Me Retweeting These Insane Racist Rants Is Because This Sickness Must Be Exposed.USA Post Racial Society?????????,” Lee tweeted.
Follow Chris Witherspoon on Twitter at @WitherspoonC