The official website of Ukrainian singer Ani Lorak was hacked. The unknown hackers put a picture featuring a Russian flag, a middle finger gesture and a "F*ck you Putin" message on the website's home page at www.anilorak.com.
Next to it, the hackers added an image of a ribbon in the colors of
Ukrainian national flag and badges reading “Ukraine. Fight for freedom.”
the slogan “glory to Ukraine” accompanied by the Ukrainian national
flag and
profanities directed to the Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The usual content of the website – the schedule of Ani Lorak’s concerts, her photos and a list of awards – were taken off the website.
The hack was first noticed on Aug. 20. As of afternoon of Aug. 22 it still wasn’t fixed.
Earlier this year Ani Lorak, the 35-year-old Ukrainian pop princess, received a lot of criticism following her participation in a pop music awards ceremony in Moscow on May 31. At the same time Ani Lorak was accepting her two awards from a Russian jury, the army of Ukraine was fighting Russia-backed separatists in the east of Ukraine with heavy human losses.
After the award ceremony, Ukrainians reacted immediately. People wrote angry messages at singer’s Facebook page and called to boycott her shows.
It didn’t help when it turned out that Ani Lorak has scheduled two shows in Crimea, Ukraine’s southern region occupied and annexed by Russia in March. On Aug. 3 some 100 activists protested before her show in Odessa, leading to severe clashes with police. At the same time, it was announced that the singer planned to donate her earnings from the Odessa show to Ukrainian army.
When approached by activists at a charity event in June, Ani Lorak
attempted to justify her actions saying she was only a singer and not a politician.
“I am not a politician. I have never had such an ambition. I am sure that one should not mix these two universes: arts and politics. But it happened so that the politicians have used my name in their dirty games,” said Ani Lorak according to her official Facebook page.
“I made my choice – to give people love through music. It has always been and will be my choice: to serve people through my songs,” she added.
However, the website attack shows the public hasn’t yet forgiven the singer.
Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov
can be reached at [email protected]
