In the wake of Marvel Comics real-life superhero Stan Lee’s death this week at age 95, a countless number of tributes and remembrances poured forth. Unfortunately amid the ruckus, however, one New Zealand newspaper (The Gisborne Herald) printed a front-page headline about Stan Lee’s death while embarrassingly mixing him up with Spike Lee, the BlacKkKlansman director who is clearly an entirely different Hollywood figure. It wasn’t a good look, and this led to social media-borne shock and obvious Do The Right Thing jokes.
Oh dear pic.twitter.com/9YfcbwYIlO
— Huw Turbervill (@huwzat) November 13, 2018
They didn’t do the right thing.
— Will McAlpine (@WillieMcAlpine) November 13, 2018
One of the newspaper’s editors, Jeremy Muir, has addressed the gaffe after it took off like the Tasmanian Devil. “People are having a bit of fun with it,” Muir told New Zealand’s Stuff outlet. “That’s fine. It’s just really embarrassing. It’s a human mistake.” Indeed. And naturally, the error made its way all to Spike Lee’s eyeballs, which left him with little choice but to respond as well.
Spike performed the inevitable on Instagram, where he not only praised Stan but reassured everyone that it’s not his turn to leave the planet yet. “God Bless Stan Lee,” Spike wrote. “Me? Not Yet. And Dat’s Da “I’m Still A Live, And Strivin'” Truth,Ruth. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF.”
What a disaster to confront. And yes, typos happen to everyone, but hopefully, they never land on the front page of any publication. Yikes.
