Director Spike Lee has spoken out after an obituary in a New Zealand newspaper declared him dead. The Gisbourne Herald published a front page news story on Tuesday that read: "Spike Lee dead at 95."
Although the obituary was obviously about Stan Lee, who died at age 95 on Tuesday, with a photo of the legendary Marvel Comics creator, the headline read that Spike Lee had died.
Numerous social media posts responded to the gaffe. Spike Lee took the news in stride, jokingly posting on his Instagram: “God bless Stan Lee. Me? Not Yet. And Dat's Da "I'm Still A Live, And Strivin'" Truth,Ruth. YA-DIG? SHO-NUFF.”
The Gisbourne Herald also took their mistake in stride, writing on Wednesday: "The Gisborne Herald achieved international infamy overnight with a front page error." They added: "Spike Lee, the director of dozens of films including this year’s Blackkklansman and 1992’s Malcolm X is very much alive." ~Alexandra Heilbron
And Stan would have laughed about that. Maybe he did - somewhere in the multiverse.
The wrong Lee died.