A couple in Sanford, Fla. has sued director Spike Lee for mistakenly tweeting their home address as George Zimmerman’s during the height of the investigation of the death of Trayvon Martin. Lee sent the tweet to his 240,000 followers in February 2012.
Even though Lee apologized over Twitter and settled, the lawsuit contends that Elaine and David McClain have continued to be the victims of harassment and hate mail, which forced them to temporarily move out. The elderly couple is seeking more than $15,000 for “substantial injury,” and reserves the right to seek punitive damages as well.
In a recent interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lee said that while he doesn’t know what his intention was in tweeting out the address, he “did a stupid thing.” “You got to be a man, say, ‘I made a mistake,’ and hopefully learned from it,” he said.