Giannis Antetokounmpo apologizes after hackers wreak havoc with his Twitter, bank account
The Twitter account of Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo provided a strong example of the merits of two-factor authentication on Thursday, as hackers appeared to take over the account and send out several highly inappropriate tweets.
The tweets started flooding out in the afternoon, filled with profanity and slurs. Among other things, topics of the tweets included the coronavirus, joining the Golden State Warriors, LeBron James, Kobe Bryant and the Bucks. The nature of the hack wasn’t exactly subtle.
A small sampling of the tweets can be found here. Be warned that they are extraordinarily NSFW.
The tweets were quickly taken down, and the Milwaukee Bucks announced that an investigation into the hack is underway.
Giannis Antetokounmpo’s social media accounts were hacked this afternoon and have been taken down. An investigation is underway.
— Milwaukee Bucks (at 🏠) (@Bucks) May 7, 2020
Antetokounmpo also released an apology through matching tweets from his girlfriend and younger brother Kostas. The tweets revealed the hack went well beyond Antetokounmpo’s Twitter account, as his phone, email and bank accounts were apparently all compromised.
Giannis’ twitter, phone, email and bank accounts were hacked! He genuinely apologizes for everything that was tweeted and he will be back as soon as possible! The things that were said by this hacker were extremely inappropriate and disgusting!
— Mariah Danae (@mariahdanae15) May 7, 2020
Giannis’ twitter, phone, email and bank accounts were hacked! He genuinely apologizes for everything that was tweeted and he will be back as soon as possible! The things that were said by this hacker were extremely inappropriate and disgusting!
— Kostas Antetokounmpo (@Kostas_ante13) May 7, 2020
Antetokounmpo regained control of his account later on Thursday night and issued another apology there. The investigation, he said, is ongoing.
— Giannis Antetokounmpo (@Giannis_An34) May 8, 2020
“The tweets and posts were extremely inappropriate and I am so disappointed and disgusted that somebody would say the terrible things that were said!” he wrote, in part. “I feel terrible that the Bucks, Khris, LeBron and the Curry family were included in the malicious and untrue tweets.
“I feel especially terrible for the Bryant family, during their time of grief they should not be subjected to this type of negativity and foul behavior.”
More from Yahoo Sports: