Mia Farrow Faces Backlash After Tweeting Address of Dentist Who Killed Cecil the Lion

Mia Farrow | Photo Credits: Jennifer Graylock, © Jennifer Graylock/INFphoto.com/Corbis

This article, Mia Farrow Faces Backlash After Tweeting Address of Dentist Who Killed Cecil the Lion, originally appeared on TVGuide.com.

Mia Farrow, along with pretty much everyone else on the Internet, is outraged over the killing of Cecil the Lion in Zimbabwe. But Farrow took her anger a step further on Wednesday, tweeting the address of Walter Palmer, the Minnesota dentist who has admitted to slaying Cecil, to more than 650,000 followers.

The tweet, which has since been deleted, contained the address of Palmer's dental practice, which is easily obtained through a Google search or by visiting the practice's Yelp page (which has been overrun with comments related to Cecil). But many Twitter users assumed Farrow was publicizing Palmer's home address.

Add new fall shows to your Watchlist

Palmer, a trophy hunter who has a wife and two children, has been forced to close his dental practice in the wake of becoming arguably the most reviled person in America. Officials in Zimbabwe are seeking to charge him with poaching.

Cecil was a 13-year-old lion who was beloved among locals and tourists and had been outfitted with a GPS tracker as part of an ongoing Oxford University research study. In early July, Palmer paid more than $50,000 to two local guides, who helped him lure Cecil out of Hwange National Park with bait and then shoot him with a crossbow. The animal was then tracked for 40 hours before being killed with a gun, skinned and decapitated.

The two Zimbabweans who helped Palmer were arrested and charged with poaching, but were released on bail this week. They've both said that they didn't realize the lion they were tracking was Cecil until it was too late.

Get all the latest news from the Television Critics Association conference

Other celebrities including Sharon Osbourne and Ricky Gervais have also condemned Palmer on social media, and Jimmy Kimmel broke down in tears discussing Cecil's death on Tuesday.

Palmer apologized for the kill this week and said in a statement that he believed the hunt was "legal and properly handled." He has not been charged with any wrongdoing; however, he has a prior felony conviction for illegally killing a black bear in Wisconsin in 2006.