New York Magazine confirmed on Tuesday that its site was taken down by a hacker for hours after publishing a well-received Bill Cosby cover featuring 35 women who have accused the comedian of sexual assault.
“We believe the outage was the result of a deliberate attack on our site,” spokesperson Lauren Starke told Poynter Institute.
Shortly after the site posted the cover (pictured above) on Monday, an anti-NYC hacker took it offline. The hacker, identifying himself “ThreatKing,” told The Daily Dot his hack wasn’t in response to the Cosby cover, but instead his hatred of New York.
“Many stupid people at [sic] New York,” he said. “I have not even seen the cover, LOL.”
The site was down for almost 10 hours as other media outlets heaped praise on its new issue that goes into detail in regards to Cosby’s accusers.
In “Bill Cosby: The Women,” NY Magazine shows the accusers lined up side by side on a powerful front cover. Inside the issue is an essay by Noreen Malone, who writes about the lives of Cosby’s alleged victims.