MSNBC’s Joy-Ann Reid says horrible homophobic commentary on her blog is from hackers, not her

MSNBC has enlisted help to prove that host Joy-Ann Reid’s blog was hacked and that horrifying homophobic posts that were recently unearthed, did not come from her.

Reid came under fire last year for blog posts she had written in the past that many felt contained anti-gay language. The posts were aimed at then-Florida Governor Charlie Crist. In the posts, Reid called the politician “Miss Charlie” and claimed that he was a closeted gay man, criticizing him for his anti-gay stances in the process.

—Joy-Ann Reid apologizes for ‘insensitive, tone deaf’ anti-gay posts—

Since then more damning posts have been uncovered by left-wing Twitter user (Jamie Maz) that have been criticized as bigoted and vicious toward the gay community. MSNBC hired an independent security consultant named Jonathan Nichols to get to the bottom of the situation.

Nichols said he had “significant evidence” proving that the posts are fake.

Nichols said that he “discovered that login information used to access the blog was available on the Dark Web and that fraudulent entries — featuring offensive statements — were entered with suspicious formatting and time stamps.

Wayback Machine

“At no time has Ms. Reid claimed that the Wayback Machine was hacked, though early in our investigation, we were made aware of a breach at archive.orgwhich may have correlated with the fraudulent blog posts we observed on their website,” Nichols said. “We simply wanted to ascertain whether that breach was related to the compromising of Ms. Reid’s blog.”

Maz used the “WayBack Machine,” which archives articles on the Internet to find the articles from Reid’s blog. The blog has been taken down but the Wayback Machine retains some posts from online articles even when the articles has been deleted.

Even though Joy-Ann Reid apologized for her comments she made back in December, these new posts have even more inflammatory, homophobic tone.

Highlights

These highlights were published by Mediaite include:

• “defend[ing] former NBA star Tim Hardaway’s aggressively anti-gay comments by writing that while such comments are stupid for a public figure to make: ‘most straight people cringe at the sight of two men kissing’”;
• saying she “couldn’t go see [Brokeback Mountain] either, despite my sister’s ringing endorsement, because I didn’t want to watch the two male characters having sex. Does that make me homophobic? Probably”;
• arguing that “intrinsic” to being straight is finding gay sex acts “gross”;
• “defending Marine General Peter Pace after he condemned ‘homosexual acts’ as ‘immoral’ by suggesting his views are actually normal”;
• opposing Harriet Miers’s nomination to the Supreme Court by implying she is a closeted lesbian and comparing her “lesbian haircut” to those worn by the presidents of NOW and GLAAD;
• A post that said she had: “concerns that adult gay men tend to be attracted to very young, post-pubescent types, bringing them ‘into the lifestyle’ in a way that many people consider to be immoral” and that “gay rights groups seek to organize very young, impressionable teens who may have an inclination that they are gay.”

—Auntie Maxine Waters to Donald Trump: ‘Please resign’—

Joy-Ann Reid’s Statement

With the new information, Joy issued this statement to Mediaite:

“In December I learned that an unknown, external party accessed and manipulated material from my now-defunct blog, The Reid Report, to include offensive and hateful references that are fabricated and run counter to my personal beliefs and ideology.

“I began working with a cyber-security expert who first identified the unauthorized activity, and we notified federal law enforcement officials of the breach. The manipulated material seems to be part of an effort to taint my character with false information by distorting a blog that ended a decade ago.

“Now that the site has been compromised I can state unequivocally that it does not represent the original entries. I hope that whoever corrupted the site recognizes the pain they have caused, not just to me, but to my family and communities that I care deeply about: LGBTQ, immigrants, people of color and other marginalized groups.”