New York Post Fires Rogue Employee Who Hijacked and Flooded Site With ‘Vile’ Messages — Including Call for AOC Assassination (UPDATES)

The New York Post said a rogue employee is responsible for the “vile and reprehensible” content posted on its website and Twitter Thursday.

In a statement to Mediaite, the Post said an investigation found the attack was carried out by a rogue employee — not a hacker as initially claimed. The paper said the employee has been fired.

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

The attacker not only had access to the tabloid’s Twitter account, but also the backend of its website, as one story was edited to show Ben Shapiro recommending the assassination of Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY).

The culprit changed other posts to make them bear outrageous headlines, then republished them on social media. The incident began on Thursday, around 9 a.m. ET, when the Post tweeted a supposed Shapiro piece with the title “We must assassinate AOC for America.”

The story was quickly deleted from the Post website, but many tweets remained.

Other deleted tweets included horrific fake headlines about New York gubernatorial candidates Lee Zeldin and Kathy Hochul, New York City Mayor Eric Adams, as well as a fake column of Miranda Devine calling for Joe and Hunter Biden to be executed.

Mediaite confirmed that the text of the Shapiro “assassinate AOC” piece matched an old piece from the Post editorial board on Ocasio-Cortez’s connection to Biden’s polling struggles.

This story has been updated with new information.