Hackers interrupt live stream of state congressional debate with gay porn
Creative Commons
A recent California congressional debate was interrupted after hackers hijacked a live stream of the debate and screened gay porn.
The debate on Thursday was between two of the candidates for the Democratic nomination for California’s 1st Congressional District, hosted by the group Independent Like the North State.
Green Party candidate Lewis Elbinger and Democrat David Peterson were both in the debate that was being broadcast live online and on local radio station KFOI 90.9 FM when it was interrupted.
(Creative Commons)
Shortly after the candidates gave their opening remarks, the stream was overtaken – with several seconds of graphic gay porn footage appearing on screens.
Debate moderator Chris Verrill quickly stopped the broadcast, stating: “Looks like we got hacked, we’ll try to fix this.”
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The broadcast did not return to air, and later plans to show the debate on a local television station were scrapped.
This was the first debate and stream that Independent Like the North State had organised.
(Creative Commons)
Verrill wrote on Facebook after the broadcast: “It’s disappointing that some pranksters disrespected the democratic process. But the North State is a great community and we won’t let a few bad apples spoil the whole barrel.
“We’re already making plans to reschedule the candidate forum so we can work together to move forward.”
Verrill later told KRCR that the hack was disappointing but a part of democracy.
Verrill said: “We had a community forum, and while it’s disappointing people did not respect us, or the candidates, or more importantly the democratic process, or the community, that’s part of the way democracy works.”
Related: This is why straight men watch gay porn
Both Elbinger and Peterson are candidates to win the Democratic nomination for the state Congress seat currently held by Republican Doug LaMalfa.
(Chip Somodevilla/Getty)
The seat is up for re-election this November.
Both candidates have agreed to redo the debate if possible.
In 2017, a hacker associated with the online hacking group Anonymous broke into multiple Twitter accounts associated with ISIS, filling them with gay porn and pro-LGBT memes.
The hacker known as WachulaGhost hacked into several Twitter accounts of the violently homophobic group, following a similar hack following the murder of 49 men and women in the Pulse nightclub massacre in 2016.
The hacks may seem remarkable, but WachulaGhost insisted that ISIS social media is surprisingly easy to get into, stating that it took him less than one minute to fill their Twitter with gay porn.
The online activist has received death threats and been sent videos of beheadings since 2016 but insists the abuse and threats haven’t put him off.
