PBS Addresses "Tupac Shakur's Alive" News Report

PBS (Public Broadcasting Service) officials have come forward to address a published news report on their website claiming the late rapper Tupac Shakur is actually alive and well in New Zealand.

According to PBS, online hackers broke into its system and created a fabricated Pac story.

PBS officials say hackers have cracked the network's website, posting a phony story claiming dead rapper Tupac Shakur was alive in New Zealand, and a group that claimed responsibility for the hacking complained about a recent "Frontline" investigative news program on WikiLeaks. PBS confirmed early Monday morning on its official Twitter account that the website had been hacked. The phony story had been taken down as of Monday morning. It had been posted on the site of the "PBS NewsHour" program, which is produced by WETA-TV in Arlington, Va. (Times Union)

Additional reporting suggests the hacker was part of a much larger conspiracy.

Boing Boing reports that this sadly erroneous report was the work of the hacking group LulzSec. Members of this group reportedly aren't terribly happy about a PBS Frontline show called WikiSecrets, which tended not to show WikiLeaks in an entirely favorable light. LulzSec doesn't seem to have attacked Frontline's site, but thousands of PBS passwords have reportedly been published online. Moreover, Wired reports that LulzSec left something of an image-based calling card that read: "All your base are belong to Lulzsec." The page was reportedly titled: "FREE BRADLEY MANNING. F*** FRONTLINE!" (CNet News)

PBS' "Frontline" executive producer David Fanning shared his reaction to the unexpected hack.

"From our point of view, we just see it as a disappointing and irresponsible act, especially since we have been very open to publishing criticism of the film ... and the film included other points of view," Fanning said. "This kind of action is irresponsible and chilling." (Statement)

Last December, fake footage of rap mogul Suge Knight being arrested for the death of Pac emerged online.

While Twitter heated up with news of Suge Knight's arrest and his connection with the murder of Tupac, some started to break down the "news" video to discover that it was, in fact, a hoax. At first glance, the news footage showing Suge Knight arrested 2010 pointed to the fact that Suge Knight killed Tupac as the reason for his arrest. The fake video is actually spliced together news footage that makes it appear that Suge Knight was arrested for killing Tupac. (Babble News)