WASHINGTON — Several false but shocking Tweets about the assassination of U.S. President Barack Obama resulted in an embarrassing Fourth of July on Monday for the news organization frequently accused of inciting anti-Obama sentiment.
Hackers broke into a Fox News Twitter account in the early-morning hours of Independence Day to falsely Tweet that the president had been shot and killed while campaigning in Iowa.
“(at)BarackObama has just passed. The President is dead. A sad 4th of July, indeed. President Barack Obama is dead,” read the first Tweet.
The hackers went on to report in another dispatch that Obama had been “shot twice in the lower pelvic area and in the neck; shooter unknown. Bled out.”
More faux details were provided in subsequent rogue Tweets, including the purported site of the assassination — “Ross’s Restaurant in Iowa” — before the hacker signed off by wishing Vice-President Joe Biden good luck as the nation’s new president.
“In such a time of madness, there’s light at the end of tunnel,” the Tweet read.
The Tweets remained visible on the Fox News politics Twitter account, with almost 35,000 followers, for more than six hours after the first one appeared.
A group calling itself The Script Kiddies took responsibility for the Tweets, replacing the account’s profile picture at one point with its own logo and a description that read “H4CK3D BY TH3 5CR1PT K1DD3S.”
Twitter accounts that apparently belong to the group, including (at)TheScriptKiddie and (at)ScriptKiddi3s, were suspended Monday morning.
A red-faced Fox News released a statement about the hoax.
“Hackers sent out several malicious and false tweets claiming that President Obama had been assassinated. Those reports are incorrect, of course, and the president is spending the July 4 holiday with his family,” the statement read.
“The hacking is being investigated, and FoxNews.com regrets any distress the false tweets may have created.”
No need to apologize, according to several commenters on the Fox News website who expressed regret that the Tweets were false.
“That’s okay Fox, no ’distress’ here. It would have been a positive relief if true,” someone with the handle AlCashier wrote.
“If only!!! My dreams dashed!!!” another wrote.
But others showed up to point fingers at Fox News.
“How in the world could they tell the difference between hacked, hate-spewing comments and the usual hate-spewing comments?” one wrote.
The website TheHackerNews.com posted a message on Monday from someone claiming to belong to The Script Kiddies.
“We will not go into details about how we have acquired Fox News twitter account,” the self-proclaimed hacker wrote.
“We do have several email accounts belonging to Fox News. As far as our security, I obviously can’t go into details, but I have faith that the members of the Script Kiddies will remain hidden. We have no announced plans for future attacks; we have brainstormed several ideas.”