Following Twitter Racism, Hackers Expose Leslie Jones’ Info and Photos

“Ghostbusters” actress and “SNL” comedian Leslie Jones was the victim of a vicious hacker attack on Wednesday. Online hackers published her personal information such as photos of her passport and driver’s license, as well as nude photos that seemed to be of her, on her own website. They also bizarrely posted a video of the gorilla Harambe that was killed at a zoo earlier this summer. Her website is now shut down.

Jones’ most recent movie, the remake of “Ghostbusters,” prompted a stream of racist comments and online attacks on Twitter in July. A tech editor at Breitbart named Milo Yiannopoulos even allegedly contributed some of the abuse; as a result Twitter shut down his account. He had received repeated warnings about similar issues.

After being banned from Twitter, Yiannopoulos said (instead of apologizing):

With the cowardly suspension of my account, Twitter has confirmed itself as a safe space for Muslim terrorists and Black Lives Matter extremists, but a no-go zone for conservatives.

He also said it would be the end for the social medium as it doesn’t welcome people who stand for free speech.

Leslie Jones then spoke out on “Late Night With Seth Meyers,” saying that hate speech and freedom of speech are two different things. She pointed out that cyber bullying is really common but many people don’t talk about it since it’s so hard to accomplish anything. But Jones took a strong stand–she publicly declared she was logging off from Twitter and called out her abusers, and then worked with Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey to identify all the accounts that had posted the comments.

Jones was back on Twitter in August, live reporting from the Olympics in Rio.

And after the most recent online attacks, many are standing up for Jones.

This @Lesdoggg attack is troubling. The rampant racism percolating in society right now is shameful and sad. She made a movie, that’s it!

— octavia spencer (@octaviaspencer) August 24, 2016

Sharing personal info & pics of women naked are classic cyberabuse tactics. WoC are disproportionately targeted. #solidarity to Leslie Jones

— End Online Misogyny (@misogyny_online) August 24, 2016

Emma Von Zeipel

Emma Von Zeipel is a staff writer at Law Street Media. She is originally from one of the islands of Stockholm, Sweden. After working for Democratic Voice of Burma in Thailand, she ended up in New York City. She has a BA in journalism from Stockholm University and is passionate about human rights, good books, horses, and European chocolate. Contact Emma at EVonZeipel@LawStreetMedia.com.