NEW YORK ¨C The National Football League¡¯s Twitter account was hacked on Tuesday and a false tweet was sent that Commissioner Roger Goodell had died, an NFL spokesman said on his Twitter account.
¡°The @nfl Twitter account was hacked. @nflcommish is alive and well,¡± league spokesman Brian McCarthy said. McCarthy confirmed to Reuters that the account had been hacked.
¡°We are reviewing and strengthening our cyber security measures,¡± McCarthy said in an email.
He said the NFL had contacted law enforcement about the hacking but declined further comment.
The NFL¡¯s official Twitter handle sent a tweet at 12:36 p.m. ET that read, ¡°We regret to inform our fans that our commissioner, Roger Goodell, has passed away. He was 57. #RIP.¡±
The tweet was promptly deleted, only to be followed by another rogue message, this time seemingly mocking the league.
¡°Oi, I said Roger Goodell has died,¡± the tweet read. ¡°Don¡¯t delete that tweet.¡±
A Twitter spokesman declined comment and directed inquiries to the NFL.
¡°Roger Goodell¡± quickly began to trend on Twitter, with some social media users cracking jokes.
¡°Fans across the nation devastated after hearing Roger Goodell was found alive this morning in his office at @NFL HQ. He is 57,¡± tweeted Henry McNamara (@HenryLMcNamara).
The NFL was not the only high-profile account hacked this week.
Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg¡¯s Twitter and Pinterest accounts were hacked on Sunday.
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