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Jennifer Lawrence naked 4Chan photos: Perez Hilton retaliates in strongly worded video after actress criticises him for publishing images

'Actually this video is for Jennifer Lawrence, to say f**k you,' the celebrity blogger wrote after the actress's damning Vanity Fair interview is printed

Jenn Selby
Tuesday 21 October 2014 11:44 BST
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(Getty Images)

Perez Hilton was one of the first celebrity bloggers who dared to publish private naked images of Jennifer Lawrence after they were leaked onto the internet by 4Chan hackers.

He swiftly apologised, before publishing censored versions of the images instead, in which the female stars in question were still identifiable.

"No, I haven't been forced to do so or been contacted by their reps, but I am removing those uncensored photos of JLaw and Victoria Justice," he wrote on his site.

"I acted in haste just to get the post up and didn't really think things through. I'm sorry.

"At work we often have to make quick decisions. I made a really bad one today and then made it worse. I feel awful and am truly sorry."

Some hours later, he decided to delete them entirely and post a grovelling video, in which he personally said sorry to Lawrence.

Lawrence discussed watching Perez's apology video with less than enthusiasm in her cover interview with Vanity Fair, which has just been printed in full.

"[Perez] took it down because people got pissed, and that's the only reason why," she said.

"And then I had to watch his apology. And what he basically said was, 'I just didn't think about it.' 'I just didn't think about it' is not an excuse. That is the exact issue itself."

Hilton has since retaliated, posting a second video on YouTube in response to the actress's comments.

"I did not intend to hurt Jennifer Lawrence, it was carelessness, it truly was,” he continued. “In the past, I purposely set out to offend, hurt and just get a rise out of celebrities and readers. And that's the big difference and the shift I have made in the last few years.

"I'm not trying to be Oprah. I am just a better version of me than I was 10 years ago. Do I still have work to do? Can I still be even better? F**k yeah, but I am not that person in the past. And if you're trying to keep me in the prism that is the past, then f**k you! So actually this video is for Jennifer Lawrence, to say f**k you!"

However, he seemed to show remorse for his comments later on in the same video, which you can watch in full above.

"I'm going to apologise to Jennifer Lawrence, again," he said. "I'm probably venting my frustration and disappointment at you and it is misguided.

"You were extremely hurt, I contributed to that, I genuinely am sorry, I hope you can look inside my brain and can see that I truly, truly did not premeditated and purposely try to hurt you."

Elsewhere during her Vanity Fair interview, Lawrence described the nude photo leak incident as a "sex crime" and a "sexual violation".

"It’s disgusting," she said. "The law needs to be changed, and we need to change. That’s why these websites are responsible.

"Just the fact that somebody can be sexually exploited and violated, and the first thought that crosses somebody’s mind is to make a profit from it. It’s so beyond me. I just can’t imagine being that detached from humanity. I can’t imagine being that thoughtless and careless and so empty inside."

She said that the onus also lay with anyone who looked at the pictures, who "perpetuated a sexual offense".

The still anonymous hackers published the images via online forum 4Chan.

The original list had also included Mary-Kate Olsen and Vanessa Hudgens, as well as Ariana Grande, Jessica Brown Findlay, Mary E Winstead, Mary E Winstead, Cara Delevingne, Kate Bosworth, Selena Gomez, Kate Upton, Kirsten Dunst and Kaley Cuoco.

The FBI and Apple are both conducting investigations into the apparent widespread invasion of personal accounts thought to be connected to the iCloud service.

In September, a second wave of naked images, thought to depict female stars including Kim Kardashian and Rihanna, emerged online.

Entertainment lawyer Marty Singer has written to Google threatening to sue the company for $100 million for failing to delete private images of a dozen undisclosed female victims and demanding it pays damages for "knowingly accommodating, facilitating and perpetuating the unlawful conduct" of the 4Chan hackers.

Google has since responded, with a spokesperson telling The Independent: "We've removed tens of thousands of pictures – within hours of the requests being made – and we have closed hundreds of accounts.

"The Internet is used for many good things. Stealing people's private photos is not one of them."

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