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"I WAS HACKED! I SWEAR!"
Shaggy isn't the only celebrity who tried to claim "It wasn't me" after getting caught in a bad situation. From politicians and athletes to Hollywood stars and even our own friends, we've all heard the age old "hacked" excuse when it comes to a social media post blowing up in someone's face. We're all human and many of us have shared something or posted something we instantly regretted on social media. Fortunately, most of us are also mature enough to own up to our mistakes and apologize, but it appears that some celebrities are still learning the art of gracefully admitting when they're wrong. Instead, they resort to the adult equivalent of "my dog ate my homework" and claim they were hacked.
The amazing part is that the alleged hackers never seem to do anything THAT horrific and somehow the unknowing "victims" always manage to regain control of their social media accounts within minutes of coming under fire for their post. In every scenario, the cowardly cover up is always worse than the crime which is unfortunate for them, but great for us because it leaves us with this hilarious list of 15 celebrities and public figures who have tried to blame a hacker on their social media gaffe. Click through to see the many famous faces who have used the “hacked” excuse and failed miserably.
15. Amanda Bynes - Ugly Cudi
Amanda Bynes' erratic behavior on Twitter was a frequent topic of conversation back in 2013. Her rambling rants were often and frequently targeted other celebrities with childish insults. In April 2013, Bynes lashed out at Complex magazine and accused rapper Kid Cudi of leaking stories to them in several explicit tweets. Bynes wrote, "You're d--k-whipped by my ugly ex @ducidni (Kid Cudi) whose looks and talent have always been questionable to me, him being the ugly duckling that he is and all." In June, over a month later, the former Nickelodeon child star suddenly had a change of heart and tweeted, "I want to apologize to Scott Mescudi. My account was hacked, I didn't call him ugly. He's not ugly. He's gorgeous and we dated! I love him." Considering the fact that "ugly" is Bynes' go-to Twitter insult for every celebrity from Drake and Jay-Z to Miley Cyrus and Rihanna, the world wasn't so convinced of the alleged hack.
14. Alicia Keys - The BlackBerry Debacle
In 2013, the "Girl On Fire" singer experienced a different kind of heat when she landed in hot water over an embarrassing social media blunder. It all started when Keys posted a tweet of lyrics to Drake's hit "Started From The Bottom." The tweet was posted from her iPhone and said, "Started from the bottom now were here!" The innocent post wouldn't have caused a problem under normal circumstances, but Keys had been named the new Creative Director of Blackberry just days before the tweet. Eagle-eyed Twitter users were quick to point out the "via Twitter for iPhone" tag on the post and the tweet was quickly deleted and replaced with Keys' explanation. "What the h*ll?!!!! Looks like I've been hacked," said Keys. "I like @Drake but that wasn't my tweet :-(." Needless to say, Blackberry declined to renew their contract with Keys once the year was out (although they declined to offer a specific explanation).
13. Soulja Boy - An Instagram Mess
This next story should serve as a warning to all...don't test Soulja Boy! The drama unfolded when Soulja Boy went on an Instagram posting spree to share pics of him with India Westbrooks. After Soulja Boy received a cease and desist text from fellow hip hop artist Lil Yachty, he shared a screen grab of the message to his followers which sparked a feud over who was dating the social media beauty. Westbrooks caught wind of the argument and tweeted that she had never been with the "Crank Dat" rapper. Soulja Boy's response was that although they may not have dated, he still "smashed" her more than once and he had the video to prove it. Westbrooks called his bluff and that's when Soulja Boy finally made good on his threat. He posted a screenshot of the alleged sex tape on Twitter writing, "F--k u India u a Sl*t." It wasn't long before Soulja Boy deleted the tweet and posted a string of bizarre tweets claiming to have been hacked. Soon all those tweets were deleted as well.
12. Chad Johnson - Criticized The NFL
Chad Javon Johnson, formerly Chad Ochocinco, has claimed to have his Twitter account hacked on multiple occasions. In 2010, Johnson criticized the NFL's new rules in a tweet saying, "OCNNBreakingNews Due to the many rule changes there has also been a name change, NFL no longer, NFFL = National Flag Football League." The Bengals' wide receiver must have realized his tweet broke the NFL's code of conduct policy because suddenly a bizarre explanation appeared for the harmless post. Within minutes, Johnson posted a tweet to Roger Goodell, the Commissioner of the National Football League, claiming that someone had hacked his account. "Dad my account was hacked for a matter of 5 minutes while i was cooking just giving you a heads up," said Johnson. "U raised me better than that." The cheeky hacker excuse was no doubt an attempt to avoid major fines for criticizing his employers. It seems Johnson suddenly remembered the old saying, "Don't bite the hand that feeds you!"
11. Rita Ora - SMH
Celebrities who are embarrassingly desperate for attention probably shouldn't have access to a worldwide platform like Twitter. Case in point? Rita Ora. In 2014, Ora decided that offering a new song to her fans would be a great way to generate interest and publicity on her music. She posted a tweet saying, "Dropping my new song monday if this gets 100,000 retweets." Unfortunately for the British singer, she didn't take into account the fact that having four million followers doesn't necessarily mean they all want to interact with you. The tweet garnered less than 2,000 retweets and was quickly deleted. Ora then retweeted a fan who wrote, “where her 3.9m followers at when you need them smh," but that was also removed. Deleting the tweets is embarrassing enough, but Ora only made matters worse by claiming the posts were the result of hackers. "By the way my Twitter got hacked somebody is threatening to release new music I've worked really hard on," said Ora. "Nothing comes out until I'm ready." In another post, Ora added, "Luckily I caught the hacker really quickly and deleted the post. Thank you!!"
10. Anthony Weiner - The Accidental Leak
Politician Anthony Weiner has been involved in three highly publicized sexting scandals, but the first is what lands him on our list today. Often dubbed Weinergate, the scandal started in May 2011 when Weiner accidentally tweeted a link to a photo of his erect penis in boxer briefs. The image was meant for a young college student who was following him on his social media websites. The link was quickly removed, but not before screengrabs were captured of course. The ensuing firestorm in the media forced Weiner to address the post which he claimed were the results of hackers. "I was hacked. It happens to people. You move on," said Weiner. One week later, Weiner was singing a different tune when he gave a tearful press conference admitting to "inappropriate communication" with multiple women. Ten days later, Weiner officially resigned from Congress apologizing for "the personal mistakes I have made and for the embarrassment I have caused."
9. Chipotle - The Fake Hack That Wasn't
This next case of "hacker blaming" is unique in that the entire scandal ended up being a giant publicity hoax! In July 2013, Chipotle's main Twitter account began posting a series of odd, completely random tweets. In a subsequent interview with Mashable, a Chipotle representative admitted to faking an account hack saying, "We thought that people would pay attention, that it would cut through people's attention and make them talk, and it did that." In fact, to say Chipotle's hacker hoax was a success would be a huge understatement! That day, Chipotle added more than 4,000 new followers which is 16x more than their normal rate of 250 followers a day. The tweets were also retweeted 12,000 times which is 160x more than the 75 retweets per day that the account usually receives. Unfortunately, Chipotle experienced a slight case of "the boy who cried wolf" when their Twitter account was hacked for real in 2015 and sent out a flurry of profane and racist tweets.
8. Santonio Holmes - Blamed Hacker For Bullying Follower
Santonio Holmes had his fair share of bad press in 2010. The former Super Bowl MVP had a lawsuit filed against him over a March incident in which a woman accused Holmes of throwing a glass at her in an Orlando nightclub. After the media picked up the story, Holmes began to receive an onslaught of Twitter jabs and messages from various fans. His reaction to one particular comment is what has him in our list today. Holmes exchanged words with the Twitter follower and Steelers fan saying, "y u tryna make me look like the bad guy. U shud try finding the worst thing that you could drink n kill urself.” The controversial tweet was immediately condemned by numerous followers who found it to be extremely offensive. After removing the tweet, Holmes alluded to the fact that it was the result of being hacked. "It wasn't me," Holmes said. "I never tried to defend myself on that topic among anyone on Twitter or among anyone that tried to ask me for interviews. I would definitely be accountable for my actions if I did say it."
7. Irina Rodnina - Barack And The Banana Scandal
In September 2013, Russian politician and figure skater Irina Rodnina was the center of a racism scandal when she tweeted a doctored photo of President Obama and The First Lady staring at a banana. Criticism against the post was swift and harsh with the US ambassador to Russia condemning Rodnina's "outrageous behavior, which only brings shame to her parliament and country." Although Rodnina deleted the tweet, she refused to apologize for posting it in the first place saying, "Freedom of speech is freedom of speech, and you should answer for your own hang-ups." However, FIVE months later, Rodnina suddenly had a bizarre explanation for the racist image. "My account was hacked," said Rodnina. "I should have shown better judgement in my initial response and handling of the event." Rodnina already has three Olympic gold medals and now she can also boast the new record for the longest time taken to come up with the "I was hacked" excuse.
6. Linda Sorenson - The Racist Obama Meme
If Linda Sorenson could've learned from Irina's mistake, she would've saved herself a whole lot of trouble...and her job! In May 2016, the Colorado GOP Chairwoman shared a meme of President Ronald Reagan bottle-feeding a chimpanzee. The image featured accompanying text that said, “I’ll be damned… Reagan used to babysit Obama.” Unfortunately, the overtly racist joke of comparing black people to monkeys is nothing new, but that doesn't mean it doesn't still come with consequences. Unsurprisingly, Sorenson was immediately hit with a wave a criticism. In an interview with BigMedia.com, Sorenson called the post a joke and said, “I really don’t care if people are offended by it.” This was an odd statement considering the vice-chairman of the committee claimed Sorenson's post was the result of hackers. “This whole thing is a hoax. Someone got into the Facebook somehow," said Vic Ullrey. "It was hacked and somebody got into it, definitely.” As if two contradicting explanations weren't enough, Colorado GOP Chairman Steve House claimed that Linda only meant to like the post, but accidentally shared it because she's "not the most Facebook adept person.” On June 30th, Sorenson resigned from her position after mounting pressure calling for her to be fired.
5. Carmelo Anthony - Threatens Twitter User, Blames Hacker
For Carmelo Anthony, being an overprotective husband almost resulted in him spending the holidays in jail! The drama began when internet celebrity Kat Stacks sent out a harmless tweet asking Anthony if he tasted like Caramel. Carmelo's wife, LaLa Valasquez, took personal offense at the exchange and waged a Twitter war against Stacks. It wasn't long before Anthony saw it his duty to jump into the drama with a vicious tweet of his own saying, "I got 5k for whoever see @ihatekatstacks and slap the s**t out her pigeon face a**. Real talk. U f****d with the right one now." Proud wifey Vasquez tweeted, “Okay my husband is on a twitter roll right now...LOL,” but the roll was short-lived as Carmelo eventually deleted the criminal threat and replaced it with a lame "hacked" excuse. "Im back on! My account was hacked," said Anthony. "Thanks twitter for getting me str8. Jst finished my first movie in China now im headed back to the States."
4. Hooters - Makes Light Of Assault Cases
In May 2014, Hooters shared a tasteless meme on their official Facebook page that generated immediate and widespread outrage. The offensive image showed a young woman pointing to her private area and featured the caption: "Exhibit A: The proof that she was asking for it, your Honour." Needless to say, the attempt to make light of rape didn't garner the desired laughter and Hooters' social media accounts were flooded with furious comments and tweets. Unsurprisingly, it wasn't long before Hooters deleted the post and cried "hacked!" They posted a lengthy apology and explanation to Facebook saying, "Today, our Facebook page was hacked and all admin rights were suspended. We apologize for the unauthorized posts made and are distressed by the insensitive material that was posted out of our control. Hooters does not share these opinions. As of 7 p.m. EST, we have regained admin rights to our page and are working closely with Facebook to investigate the matter." The more plausible explanation? Some immature admin made a poor error in judgement.
3. Marilyn Mosby - She "Favorited" The Wrong Tweets
The State's Attorney for Baltimore, Maryland is going to think twice the next time she favorites a tweet from her personal Twitter account. In May 2015, Marilyn Mosby endorsed two controversial tweets that may suggest there is truth to reports that she was biased against the officers involved in the Freddie Gray case. The first tweet called the charged officers “thugs” and read, "AMETIA: SA @MarilynMosbyEsq only revealed what was RELEVANT to charge those 6 THUG cops. Nothing more, nothing less. #FreddieGray." Not long after, Mosby favorited another tweet reading, "Didn't I say last week that @MarilynMosbyEsq, prima facie, probably INFURIATES a certain kind of white person? Now come the long knives." As the favorited tweets came to light in the media, Mosby's office claimed that both were the result of her Twitter account being hacked. Now the only remaining question is why someone would go through the effort of hacking a government official and do nothing more than favorite a couple random tweets. That is one lazy hacker!
2. Dallas Nicole Parks - Throws Major Shade Toward Dak Prescott
Dallas Cowboys quarterback Dak Prescott was happily dating a former Playboy model when either he did something to majorly enrage her or she suddenly decided to flip her crazy switch. The blonde bombshell—appropriately named Dallas Nicole Parks—recently shared a happy photo of herself cheering on her man at a Dallas Cowboys match. Who's to say what changed, but just a few hours later Parks began posting several angry tweets about Prescott. She fired off explicit posts telling her followers to go to Prescott if "you wanna be treated like s--t" and accusing him of being fake saying, "Just for all you fans of dp..he isn't who you think he is. It's called fake it until you make it in his world." Eventually the tweets were deleted and Prescott tried to make light of the drama saying, "Someone hacked my phone last night oops sorry #ithappens #ifyouseetitoshideyourphone." She even threw in a few silly emoticons for extra effect.
1. Sid Miller - Call Hillary Clinton A Derogatory Term
The office of Texas Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller had some major damage control to do after he shared a tweet calling Hillary Clinton a “c--t.” The tweet in question was citing a new auto alliance poll on Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton. The tweet showed Trump up by one point at 44 and then referred to Clinton as "c--t" before showing her trailing behind at 43. The tweet ended by saying, “Go Trump Go!” The tweet was deleted 10 minutes after it was being shared, but the damage was done. Communications Director for the Texas Department of Agriculture Mark Loeffler initially told mySA.com that Miller's account had been hacked. However, Miller disputed this explanation minutes later and claimed the deleted tweet was a mistake made by a campaign staffer. An official statement from Miller's office has no mention of hacking and instead says "the campaign was retweeting information on Twitter today and inadvertently retweeted a tweet that they were not aware contained a derogatory term." Miller said he was "sorry it happened."
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