Entertainment

Jennifer Lawrence photo hack: Celebrities bash mass privacy violation

Celebrities come to the defence of Hollywood and other celebrities whose images are at the centre of a mass hacking scandal. Stars spoke out this week against both the posting of the photos online and the viewing of them.

Hollywood stars react to the hacking, internet posting of nude celebrity photos

Fellow celebrities have come to the defence of stars including American Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence, who are victims of a mass nude-photo hack. (Eric Gaillard/Reuters)

Celebrities are coming to the defence of Hollywood victims of a mass hacking of stars' private images that have been posted and viewed online. 

"The way in which you share your body must be a CHOICE. Support these women and do not look at these pictures,' tweeted 28-year-old Girls creator Lena Dunham. 

Online accounts of celebrities, including Oscar winner Jennifer Lawrence and model Kate Upton, were hacked, leading to the posting of their nude photographs and some videos online.

Dunham, who also stars in the HBO show, wrote a string of tweets. Joining her in publicly denouncing the hacker were stars including Canadian comedian/actor Seth Rogen, Emma Watson and Raising Hope actor Lucas Neff.

On mobile? Read tweets, here, here, here and here

Lawrence, a three-time Oscar nominee who won for her role in Silver Linings Playbook, and Upton contacted authorities after the images began appearing Sunday.

Naked images purporting to be of other female stars were also posted, although the authenticity of many couldn't be confirmed. The source of the leak was unclear.

Ricky Gervais tweeted a comment partially blaming female celebrities for having taken the photos in the first place. It received so much negative backlash that the comedian, who has nearly six million followers, deleted it. 

"Celebrities, make it harder for hackers to get nude pics of you from your computer by not putting nude pics of yourself on your computer," the tweet read.

"This is a flagrant violation of privacy," Lawrence's publicist, Liz Mahoney, wrote in a statement. "The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence."

How widespread the hacking of celebrity photos was is not immediately clear. Some of the images were quickly denounced as fakes.

U.S Olympic gymnast McKayla Maroney, singer Ariana Grande and Nickelodeon actor Victoria Justice were among those saying leaked photos of them were not real. 

On mobile? See the tweets here, here and here

Celebrity gossip blogger Perez Hilton originally posted the hacked nude photos of Justice and Lawrence, but later took them down and issued an apology. 

On mobile? Read the tweet here

With files from The Associated Press