Spike Lee on His Trayvon Martin Tweet: "I Did a Stupid Thing"
One month after the death of Trayvon Martin, a 17-year-old African-American high school student, director Spike Lee took to Twitter and retweeted what he thought was the home address of George Zimmerman, the man who was later tried and acquitted of Trayvon's murder. The address actually belonged to an elderly couple completely unrelated to the case. Now, Spike shares his regrets about that tweet and reveals what he's learned from his mistake.
Spike Lee knew the question was coming. During an interview with Oprah Winfrey that aired Sunday night, the filmmaker preemptively answered the question about his infamous George Zimmerman tweet before his interviewer got a chance to ask it.
“I know this question is coming so I’m going to beat you to it,” Lee said after Winfrey brought up the Zimmerman trial. “I did a stupid thing when I retweeted supposedly the address,” he told her. “It was stupid.”
Winfrey explained to her audience how just one month after Zimmerman shot and killed Trayvon Martin in Sanford, Florida, Lee was one of many who retweeted an address he believed to be Zimmerman’s. It turned out to belong to an innocent, elderly couple who were forced to go into hiding out of fear for their lives. The couple reached a settlement with Lee early last year, but have now filed an additional lawsuit against him.
Lee told Winfrey he didn’t have any specific “intention” when he retweeted the address, and while he was “angry,” he said, “anger is not a justification for stupidity.”
“There’s nothing I can say that can defend that. It was stupid,” Lee continued, “S-T-O-O-P-I-D.” As for his wife’s reaction, he said she had three letters for him, “W.T.F.?”
