Long gone are the days where Clay Aiken stood on a stage, garnering attention for his singing talents as the runner-up of “American Idol” in 2003. Today he’s standing behind lecterns, hitting the campaign trail as a congressional candidate in North Carolina. But his recent comments about the recent leak of celebrity nude photos might have lost him a few votes of confidence.
In an interview with the Washington Post the former pop star basically said that he thinks the victims of the hack had it coming to them.
“Anybody who takes inappropriate pictures of themselves deserves exactly what they get,” he told the Post.
Although Aiken was quick to add that he supports online security.
“Of course whoever [stole and released the photos] should be hogtied,” he said. “And it’s unfortunate that we don’t have Internet security right now or the laws in place to protect people from pirating that stuff.”
So leaking the photos was wrong in his book… but it seem like he’s implying that taking them is as well? That’s the kind of slut-shaming attitude that perpetrates harassment and bullying for women who have gone through this kind of invasive experience.
The comments seem a bit out of character for Aiken, who has spent the past decade involved with organizations like UNICEF, and worked on the President’s Committee for People with Intellectual Disabilities in 2006.
Even if Aiken thinks these women deserve their fate, the FBI doesn’t and their investigation is ongoing, with the hackers facing potential prison time.
For information and resources on how to prevent – or deal with – a hack, read more at A Thin Line.
No Comments