Late Night: Jon Stewart accuses Spike Lee of ‘cyber-bullying’

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As the Trayvon Martin saga continues to unfold, Jon Stewart scolded filmmaker Spike Lee for inadvertantly releasing the hounds on an innocent Florida couple via Twitter. In case you missed the story, Lee retweeted what was purported to be the home address of Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, but which was actually the address of Elaine and David McClain, an unrelated pair of retirees.

‘Yes, sending a lynch mob to the wrong address is a bad mistake,’ Stewart said. ‘I gotta say, even if it was the right address, that’s still a bad mistake. Sending a lynch mob to anybody’s address is a bad mistake.’

He urged Lee, 55, to ‘leave the cyber-bullying to teenagers,’ and said that Lee’s behavior was as ‘immature as stealing Sally Jesse Raphael’s glasses’ –- a dig at the director’s distinctive red frames.

And while Stewart was glad to hear that Lee eventually apologized to the McClains via Twitter, he also suggested that a social networking site was perhaps not the best medium for the mea culpa. ‘Hold up a sign at a Knicks game, or call them. That’s what they really want. That’s all any Florida retiree really wants. Pick up the phone and call them. And then, help them move.’

For the record, it sounds like Lee might have taken Stewart’s advice. Let’s hope so.

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-- Meredith Blake

twitter.com/MeredithBlake