South African rugby coach Rassie Erasmus left embarrassed when as his official Twitter handle appeared to share a graphic pornography video, he apologised to fans as he admitted he is unable to remove it and called on his 85,900 followers for help.
The 49-year-old World Cup winner claimed ‘hackers’ were responsible for the video, and declared he had not interacted with XNXN Video’s tweet – which was a graphic video showcasing porn – himself and that his account had been breached on Saturday morning.
Hours later the content was still visible on his Twitter timeline – sparking a furore on social media, many tried to help by offering technical advice on how to get rid of the content.
Some told the South Africa Director of Rugby to change his password – to prevent the hacker from reposting the content as Erasmus alleged.
Most of Erasmus’ followers were not impressed by his action as this was not the first time he has got into hot water over his behaviour online.
He made headlines during the British & Irish Lions tour of South Africa when in July 2021, the Springboks director of rugby was believed to be using a burner account on Twitter to criticise refereeing decisions against the European side.
Erasmus retweeted two posts by a user with the name Jaco Johan, who only had two visible posts on the account. It was widely accepted that Erasmus was the likely voice behind the mysterious account.
Fans were particularly convinced Erasmus created the account as his first name is Johan. The biography for the account stated: “I am Rassie’s voice when he is too nervous to say something himself! Watch the space — some good stuff on its way.”
SA Rugby in a later statement confirmed the Twitter hack of the Rugby coach “Rassie Erasmus, SA Rugby’s Director of Rugby, has confirmed that his Twitter account, @RassieRugby, has been hacked and that he no longer has access to or control of the account.
“The issue has been reported to Twitter and will hopefully be resolved speedily. Any content appearing under the handle should be disregarded as being posted by a malicious hacker until further notice.”