Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney is one of the victims involved in the massive celebrity hacking scandal that led to hundreds of nude and explicit selfies popping up online. The photos started making the rounds on Sunday, Aug. 31.
According to BuzzFeed, the hack was traced back to a thread on 4chan with the original poster claiming that even more photos and videos would be leaked in the next few days. Shortly after news broke of the hack, Maroney took to Twitter to deny that the photos said to be of her were authentic.
"The fake photos of me are crazy!! Was trying to rise above it all, and not give 'the creator' the time of day... BUT..." and included a picture of a statue of Jesus Christ with the words "You, sir, need Jesus."
Instead of receiving support, the Olympian was bashed and called names. Some fans told Maroney that it would be better if she owned up to the photos instead of denying them, the Daily News reports.
"shout out to my fans for defending me all day long... even when things got weird u stood by me. And that meant the world," the gymnast responded.
Actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead was also attacked when she commented on the leak photos. Winstead confirmed that the photos were real but was not pleased that someone who post intimate pictures she took with her husband.
"To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves," the actress tweeted. "Knowing those photos were deleted long ago, I can only image the creepy effort that went into this. Feeling for everyone who got hacked."
Some felt sorry for the actress while others criticized Winstead for posing naked in the first place.
"Most people in the public eye ignore things they don't want ppl to be interested in," a Twitter user wrote, according to the Daily News. "Almost like you're enjoying the attention."
"Stop posing nude on camera, dummy," another commented. "Your husband not know what you look like nude? #LessonLearned."
Because of the harsh responses, Winstead later tweeted that she was taking a break from social media.
"Great day for the block button!" she posted, followed by "Going on an Internet break. Feel free to [read] my @'s for a glimpse of what it's like to be a woman who speaks up about anything on twitter."
Victoria Justice also denied the photos belonged to her, tweeting, "These so called nudes of me are FAKE people. Let me nip this in bud right now. *pun intended*"
