New York Post Says Rogue Employee Was Behind Vulgar and Racist Posts

The New York Post said on Thursday that a rogue employee had been behind a series of vulgar and racist tweets and headlines on its website earlier in the day.

The posts on Twitter included a reference to Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York, falsely attributing statements about her to Representative Lee Zeldin, her opponent in the coming election, as well as posts about Mayor Eric Adams of New York and President Biden’s son, Hunter Biden.

The employee also used The Post’s internal publishing system to republish an editorial about Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and change the byline to Ben Shapiro, the conservative commentator. The headline was changed to say: “We must assassinate AOC for America.”

In a statement, the news organization said: “The New York Post’s investigation indicates that the unauthorized conduct was committed by an employee, and the employee has been terminated. This morning, we immediately removed the vile and reprehensible content from our website and social media accounts.”

Earlier on Thursday, The Post said that its Twitter account and publishing system had been hacked. Not long after, Jen Goodman, a spokeswoman for Ms. Hochul’s campaign, demanded that The Post address how the vile tweets were able to be published.

“The New York Post has long fostered an ugly, toxic conversation on their front pages and social accounts, but these posts are more disgusting and vile than usual,” Ms. Goodman said in a statement.