Soul Singer Jill Scott Latest Victim Of The Fappening As Private Pics Leak
Soul singer Jill Scott appears to be the latest victim of the massive leak of racy celebrity pictures, as shots of semi-nude Scott have been making the rounds on social networks, causing no small amount of controversy as the debate over the sharing of such pics rages on.
News of “The Fappening” first broke late on Sunday, with posts on sites like Reddit, 4chan, and others touting a veritable treasure trove of racy pics from some of Hollywood’s most popular celebrities. Hollywood darling Jennifer Lawrence is perhaps the biggest name caught up in the massive privacy violation, but Ariana Grande, Kate Upton, and Kirsten Dunst also showed up in leaked personal pics. Now, Jill Scott also appears to have fallen victim to the privacy breach.
At least two pictures of Scott made the rounds on Wednesday evening, one showing the Scott wearing nothing but a robe tied at the waist and the other showing even more. The second pic may well be Scott, though it does not show a face. Other pictures depict the singer confidently on display in front of a mirror, wearing only the lower half of her underwear.
Whether or not the pictures actually depict Scott, the consensus on Twitter definitely appears to be that they do. Scott’s name has been trending on the microblogging site for more than an hour as of this publication, and some users are freely sharing the racy pictures, apparently with no concern for Scott’s privacy.
Scott has been on the national scene since the year 2000, when her debut album Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 went platinum. Scott has performed with storied hip-hop band The Roots, and she co-wrote their hit song “You Got Me.” Scott has also appeared in a number of films, including Hounddog, Why Did I Get Married? and Get On Up.
Aside from celebrity embarrassment and a general creepening of the internet, The Fappening could signal a new era of increased worry over security “in the cloud.” Early accounts from people that appeared to be the initial hackers blamed security flaws in Apple’s iCloud service for granting access to the illicit pics. Some of the investigations by Apple, though, point to coordinated attacks targeted at the celebrities themselves.
The Fappening has sparked a larger debate over not just the privacy rights of celebrities, but also the implications of a public that – at least in part – appears to believe it is acceptable to look at and share pictures that it knows are both stolen and meant to be private. Celebrity Lena Dunham took to Twitter on Monday to call the initial leakers of the Fappening photos “sex offenders.” Dunham further castigated anyone who might be looking at or sharing the pictures as “violating these women again and again.”
The stars affected in the leak have had mixed responses, ranging from outrage and embarrassment to humor. Jennifer Lawrence’s publicist released a statement threatening prosecution for anyone posting copies of the stolen photos. Meanwhile, Kaley Cuoco relied on humor, posting a racy picture of her and her husband on the beach and attempting to make light of the situation.
Neither Jill Scott nor her representatives has released a statement on the leak of Scott’s photos as yet.
[Lead image via Ebony.]
