Onscreen, comedian and Ghostbusters actress Leslie Jones has had a great, name-making 2016. But online, things have only gotten worse for Jones, who today suffered another in a series of horrifying racist and misogynistic internet attacks.
Report: hackers have attacked Leslie Jones, releasing nude photos and her address
Alex Abad-Santos is a senior correspondent who explains what society obsesses over, from Marvel and movies to fitness and skin care. He came to Vox in 2014. Prior to that, he worked at The Atlantic.
On Wednesday morning, a hacker who finagled their way into Jones’s iCloud account released her photos, including some nude shots, as well as personal information: photos of her passport and driver’s license, her phone number, and her Twitter password — on Jones’s official website, no less.
The site, which has already been taken down, also featured a video of the gorilla Harambe, who was shot and killed in an Ohio zoo this year, the Wrap reported. Harambe’s name was also invoked by those who harassed Jones on Twitter following Ghostbusters’ release, leading to her temporary retirement from the social media platform.
The hack feels like a nasty amalgam of doxxing — the act of revealing personal information about a person, like her address — and 2014’s nude photo celebrity hack of actresses like Jennifer Lawrence and Blake Lively. It’s a massive invasion of privacy, as well as an attack on Jones’s psyche and person — it’s unclear who now has information like her home address and phone number and what they plan to do with it.
The attack comes at the end of a summer of online attacks on Jones. In response to the irrational amount of vitriol spurred by the Ghostbusters remake in which she starred, Jones made points about inclusivity, representation, and harassment on Twitter, and was met with racism, sexism, and abuse.
I use to wonder why some celebs don't have Twitter accts now I know. You can't be nice and communicate with fans cause people crazy.
— Leslie Jones (@Lesdoggg) July 19, 2016
Twitter’s response was to ban Milo Yiannopoulos, a columnist and alt-right provocateur who encouraged Jones’s Twitter harassment. With Wednesday’s hack on Jones, the ban now seems like a Band-Aid over a bullet hole.
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