Elderly Couple In Fear Over Spike Lee Tweet

Elderly Couple In Fear Over Spike Lee Tweet

Star erroneously linked Floridians to man who killed Trayvon Martin


MARCH 27--With Twitter and Facebook continuing to explode with posts purporting to contain the address of George Zimmerman, property records and interviews reveal that the home is actually the longtime residence of a married Florida couple, both in their 70s, who have no connection to the man who killed Trayvon Martin and are now living in fear due to erroneous reports about their connection to the shooter.

The mass dissemination of the address on Edgewater Circle in Sanford--the Florida city where Martin was shot to death last month--took flight last Friday when director Spike Lee retweeted a tweet containing Zimmerman’s purported address to his 240,000 followers.

The original tweet was sent to Lee (and numerous other celebrities like Will Smith, 50 Cent, and LeBron James) last Friday afternoon by Marcus Davonne Higgins, a 33-year-old Los Angeles man who uses the online handle “maccapone.” Higgins included the direction, “EVERYBODY REPOST THIS.”

Higgins, pictured at right, first began disseminating the Sanford address to his Twitter followers last Wednesday, including the claim that Zimmerman “Like the fat punk he is, he still lives at home with mommie & daddy.” In a simultaneous post to his Facebook wall, Higgins told his 4000 friends, “FEEL FREE TO REACH OUT & TOUCH HIM.” He also claimed in another post that, “REAL TALK MY PEOPLE OUT THERE IN FLORIDA JUST TOLD ME GEORGE ZIMMERMAN IS NOT AT HIS HOUSE THEY OUT THERE RIGHT NOW.”

Higgins’s dissemination of Zimmerman’s purported Edgewater Circle address was not, however, limited to cyberspace. At a protest rally last Thursday in an L.A. park near his Crenshaw home, Higgins held a sign containing Zimmerman’s name, address, and phone number.

Except, of course, none were accurate.

The man who shot Martin is George Michael Zimmerman. Higgins has repeatedly identified him as “George W. Zimmerman.”

The residence on Edgewater Circle is actually the home of David McClain, 72, and his wife Elaine, 70. The McClains, both of whom work for the Seminole County school system, have lived in the 1310-square-foot lakefront home for about a decade, records show.

In an interview tonight, Elaine McClain told TSG that she and her husband were “afraid” due to the online linking of her address to Zimmerman. “We're keeping everything locked,” she said. McClain added that the couple was particularly unnerved by a letter mailed to them at their home. On the envelope, she said, were printed the words “Taste The Rainbow,” the slogan for Skittles. Martin was carrying a pack of Skittles and a can of ice tea when he was gunned down by Zimmerman.

McClain said her husband returned the envelope unopened to the post office.

The McClains only became aware that their address was being widely circulated online two days ago, when a TV reporter arrived at their home asking for “George.” Bewildered by their sudden--and erroneous--connection to Martin’s killer, the elderly couple’s distress can only be heightened by posts made by Twitter and Facebook users who threaten to visit their residence in search of Zimmerman. Or other posts that goad followers to vigilante action.

Higgins has not responded to numerous TSG messages, so it is unknown where he came up with the information tying Zimmerman to the McClains's home. A check of Zimmerman’s residential history shows no connection to the Edgewater Circle property, which is about four miles from his actual home in Sanford.

So how did Higgins screw things up?

Besides overlooking the different middle initial, perhaps that answer is connected to an old voter record for a “William George Zimmerman” at the Edgewater Circle property. That registration, which dates back to 1995, is for a 41-year-old man. The Zimmerman who shot Martin is 28.

Elaine McClain identified William George Zimmerman as her son, noting that he has not lived at the Edgewater Circle 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.

When told that Twitter posts containing her address continued to pour in this evening, an exasperated Elaine McClain remarked, “Maybe we should get a lawyer and send a cease and desist letter to Spike Lee.”

http://www.thesmokinggun.com/documents/spike-lee-zimmerman-tweet-567891


Smooth, very smooth, Spike. Hopefully, they sue the crap out of him, and collect.

_

 

It's not Spike's fault, all he did was retweet. He isn't the person responsible for telling the world the wrong address. I'd be going after this Higgins dude.

 

'Reach out and Touch him?'

now that's someone who ought to have been charged with causing to riot.

The McClains are teachers? They oughta sue Lee's pants off.

 

deepest pockets strategy. he was part of it. Well known. Influential. People listen to him.

 

"He didn't rob the bank, all he did was drive the getaway car"

 

And what about all the celebs who follow him, who may also have retweeted? Do you go after all of them?

 

It is not a crime to retweet. You can't get anything on Spike Lee as he did nothing wrong.

 

Spike has the money and he's gonna be sued.

 

Oh, really? Spike Lee's name doesn't spur the dissemination of false information? If those people are killed or injured or if there house is attacked, I'd certainly be after Spike Lee in criminal and civil court.

 

Everyone who published the address IS responsible. Since the Spikester is the wealthiest.......well you know.

 

So it's about greed, then. Typical.

Then he can rightfully argue you would have to go after every single other celeb who retweeted those comments. Not possible, because NO LAW WAS BROKEN!!!

I'll retweet it then, lets see someone arrest me for a non existent crime.

 

Reckless endangerment: The offense of knowingly and recklessly engaging in conduct that creates a substantial risk of serious physical injury or death to another person. Reckless endangerment is a misdemeanor but sometimes rises to a felony, as when a deadly weapon is involved.

Lee's a very visible player.... if Zimmerman or this couple wind up harmed, vandalized...or murdered, I wouldn't want to be in his shoes.

 

Not arrest, just a damages lawsuit.

 

all people involved with this address fiasco need to be seriously reprimanded. Lee should publicly apologize and pay for their security and give them a large lump sum...

 

And it will open up a huge can of worms. Say something nasty about Obama, someone attack him, and the tweeter gets into trouble for it.

This is the country who allowed a man to sue a Chinese couple for millions of dollars because they didn't dry clean his pants properly, so I am not surprised there is so much support for suing Lee.

 

He is just as culpable by retweeting it under the assumption it was correct. He's the more famous, with the most followers..... Both him and Higgins are equally culpable...

 

Why isn't it his fault?

He should have checked the accuracy of the tweet before passing it along.

After all if you are going to assist in the murder of someone at least make sure to murder the right person.

 

So you make sure every tweet you respond to is accurate?

What's next? Going after people for what they post on Facebook?

Why not blame the people who may attack the couple? Or is that too easy?

 

Spike Lee gave a lecture at my college that I had to attend for a class and I can tell you that he is one of the most racist people I have ever heard. His whole speech was in regards to Native Americans and the suffering inflicted by the White Man.

This is fine if you speak from an historical perspective but his talk was pure hate. I would have walked out if it wasn't required.

Disgusting.

 

whenever I'm posting addresses so the BP can more easily hunt down someone..... yes

 

Doesn't matter - Lee took part in sending the wrong address. Makes him just as responsible .... or should I say 'irresponsible'?

 

Spike Lee is a coward and this elderly couple is now paying the price of that cowardice. If Spike Lee thinks that this address should be disseminated and that someone should take the law into their own hands then he should take his sawed-off ass down to FL and do it himself. Giving the address to a quarter of a million people hoping they'll do the deed for him is a b1tch move.

 

When a person's life is hanging in the balance that I'm hoping to have killed?

You betcha I'm going to double-check my information.

And so would Spike Lee if he were not part of an angry mob that has lost all its reason.

 

And I sure hope they do!

 

ever hear of civil court ?