Pop superstar Katy Perry became the latest celebrity hacking victim on Monday, as her Twitter account was compromised and abused to send vulgar messages to her 89 million followers.
Fans of the singer must have been surprised when Perry — who boasts the most followers on the entire social media platform — appeared to send out a string of tweets late Monday that included “u a f*g” and “otf gang n***a.”
The messages have since been scrubbed from Perry’s Twitter page.
One of the tweets was directed at Taylor Swift, with whom Perry has feuded in recent years. The tweet read simply, “miss you baby @taylorswift13.”
The Swift tweet may have tipped off the singer’s fans that the account had been hacked; the relationship between the two pop stars is so fraught that Swift’s song “Bad Blood” is reportedly all about her feud with Perry.
While it was unclear who was behind the attack, TechCrunch reports that a Twitter user who goes by the handle @sw4ylol has claimed credit. The user reportedly posted a tweet reading “haha follow @sw4ylol #hackersgonnahack” before Perry apparently regained control of the account.
The user, who claims to be based in Romania, sent out a number of followup messages, including a screenshot of what appeared to be a copyright takedown notice from Soundcloud.
Perry has not yet issued a statement about the security breach.
The 31-year-old singer is just the latest celebrity to fall victim to a Twitter hack; fellow pop stars Justin Bieber, Britney Spears and even Taylor Swift herself have all seen their social media accounts broken into in recent years.
Follow Daniel Nussbaum on Twitter: @dznussbaum