Hacker group OurMine gained access on Monday (Dec. 26) to the Twitter account of Sony Music and tweeted “RIP @britneyspears” followed by a crying emoji and “#RIPBritney 1981-2016” shortly after 8 am ET. The group added a second tweet “britney spears is dead by accident! we will tell you more soon #RIPBritney” with another crying emoji. The Twitter account of singer Bob Dylan then tweeted “Rest in peace @britneyspears” with the same crying emoji.
Not too long after, Sony Music deleted the tweets and announced that they had been hacked, apologizing for the confusion. In a statement, they wrote that the “account was compromised. This has been rectified. Sony Music apologizes to Britney Spears and her fans for any confusion.”
The tweet from Bob Dylan’s account was also deleted, and a representative for Dylan told Billboard that his account is managed by Sony Music.
