Rapper Travels 1,000 Miles To Meet Words With Friends Opponent

SILVER SPRING, MD — A 22-year-old rapper originally from Silver Spring traveled over 1,000 miles to meet an elderly woman he befriended on a popular online word game app, according to reports. Spencer Sleyon began playing 81-year-old Rosalind Guttman of Palm Beach, Florida, on Words With Friends in the summer of 2016. The two played over 300 games and struck up a budding friendship.

"She actually ended up becoming a good friend of mine," Sleyon wrote in a Tweet that has since been favorited over one million times and retweeted hundreds of thousands of times.

Sleyon, who goes by the rapper name High Class Filth, recently moved from Silver Spring to Harlem in New York City to pursue his dream of music. He disabled the Words With Friends app when he moved, which unfortunately meant he couldn't talk to Guttman anymore.

Sleyon told ABC News that the two had chatted through the app and Guttman became someone he "could confide in."

A few months later, a pastor at Riverside Church in New York City who Sleyon knew heard his story and wanted to reunite the two friendly opponents.

“I’m all for just experiencing stuff, I was like ‘yeah,’ ” Sleyon told The Washington Post. “I love random occurrences, I thought it was cool I was able to befriend her.”

Pastor Amy Butler decided to fly Sleyon to Guttman's retirement community in Palm Beach so the two could meet in real life. The two had lunch and chatted about their families, politics, the Words With Friends game and more.

“This was a phenomenal story, especially in this very scary time where we are being manipulated by fear and divided, that two people would forge a friendship like this,” Butler told ABC News.

Guttman declined to comment to The Washington Post, saying this is just how people should treat each other.

Butler said Guttman is "hilarious and fabulous" and told The Washington Post she's "like a character on 'The Golden Girls.'"

Sleyon said he is "thankful to be spreading positivity" as the story went viral on Twitter. Pastor Butler talked about the friendship in a sermon focused on befriending people who are different.

Photos by Pastor Amy Butler