Report: hackers have attacked Leslie Jones, releasing nude photos and her address

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.

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.

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.

We're here to shed some clarity

One of our core beliefs here at Vox is that everyone needs and deserves access to the information that helps them understand the world, regardless of whether they can pay for a subscription. With the 2024 election on the horizon, more people are turning to us for clear and balanced explanations of the issues and policies at stake. We’re so grateful that we’re on track to hit 85,000 contributions to the Vox Contributions program before the end of the year, which in turn helps us keep this work free. We need to add 2,500 contributions this month to hit that goal. Will you make a contribution today to help us hit this goal and support our policy coverage? Any amount helps.

One-Time Monthly Annual

$5/month

$10/month

$25/month

$50/month

Other

$

Yes, I'll give $5/month

Yes, I'll give $5/month

We accept credit card, Apple Pay, and Google Pay. You can also contribute via