Coulter's Website Hacked, Reads: My Entire Career Has Been a Prank

Posted by David Cassel at 11:00 AM on October 17, 2007.

This post, written by David Cassel, originally appeared on TECH.BLORGE.com

Ann Coulter's web site was apparently hacked Monday night. In place of a column about Republican politics was "An Open Letter to Readers" announcing that her entire career had been a practical joke.

Radar magazine's site spotted the fake column Monday, marveling at its announcement that the controversial columnist "has just been playing a character for a decade." And Tuesday night a copy of the hacker's column remained hidden in Coulter's archive.

"You have all been a part of a sick joke..." Coulter's web site declared. It announced an eleven-year prank involving "twisted logic and poorly masked bigotry" to gauge the popular reaction, then added that "Even someone as fake as I tires out eventually."

The five-paragraph column appeared on the web site's front page, repudiating past positions taken by Ann Coulter on various religions, then stated that a person's religion is actually unimportant, and that "We should not let petty differences separate us."

"I bid you adieu," it concluded. "My career as a media figurehead is over. Signed, Ann Coulter."

The column is apparently the result of an unpatched security hole on the web site's server. One web surfer reported that when he visited Ann Coulter's site late Monday night, the bogus letter had been taken down -- but another message had been left in its place.

"Haha, did it again. Oh, those silly web admins...they just embarrass themselves."

Click here for a screenshot of the hacked web site.

Tagged as: conservatives, coulter, hackers, website

David Cassel is a technology writer living in Silicon Valley. He first went online in 1990, and has covered emerging technologies for groundbreaking sites like Wired News, Salon, and Suck.