Lee’s Gun Gaffe

Shame on Spike Lee for advocating the murder of Charlton Heston, president of the National Rifle Assn. (Morning Report, May 29)!

Sure, Lee was just kidding and offered a crude attempt at irony, but suppose his words were taken seriously by a troubled teen admirer who then assassinated Heston?

Perhaps it is time to rein in the 1st Amendment?

DAVID R. BERRY

Cucamonga

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In a fit of pique at the Cannes Film Festival, Spike Lee said I should be shot “with a .44 Bulldog” (the handgun used by the serial killer Son of Sam).

In response, I feel some irony. In ‘63, when I was marching for the freedom of black Americans, I was threatened by white men. In ‘99, active now for the freedom of all Americans, I’m threatened by a black man.

When Lee was still in diapers, I was working with Dr. Martin Luther King to break down the racist code in the Hollywood technical unions that denied blacks any place behind the cameras, paving the way for young filmmakers like Lee.

I want no apology from him; my character speaks for itself. As for his, he’s responsible for that, of course. I wish him well on his next film.

CHARLTON HESTON

Los Angeles