Paparazzi website reportedly gets hacked following Stray Kids Met Gala alleged racist comment controversy

On May 9, 2024, Paparazzi and photographer Sean Zanni's website reportedly got hacked following the Stray Kids Met Gala controversy. The reason behind the hacking has been cited as the photographer's alleged racist comments against the eight members at the fashion event.

Consequently, whenever someone tried to open his website, the words '#APOLOGIZETOSTRAYKIDS' appeared on the screen. So far, nobody has taken responsibility for the alleged hacking of Sean Zanni's website, but STAYs were elated with whoever was behind it.

Stray Kids made their Met Gala debut on May 6, 2024, at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Soon, videos from the fashion event where members posed for pictures on the red carpet went viral on social media.

The fandom was quick to notice the alleged racist comments passed by reporters and paparazzi. With their research, fans discovered the reporters involved in the alleged disrespect towards the members, and among them, Sean Zanni was involved.

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STAYs wants the paparazzi to apologize to the Stray Kids

The paparazzi and journalists present on the red carpet were allegedly spotted demanding Stray Kids members do certain poses, discussing their facial expressions, and calling them robots.

They allegedly passed several comments that the fandom deemed as racist and mockery in tone. These reportedly included "unemotional," "robots," "I've never seen so many unemotional faces," "Let's do it with feeling," "I'll just take a headshot of each of you how about that," "Maybe now we can get a good shot," and others.

STAYs found it disrespectful and called out the journalist involved to apologize to members. The fandom identified certain reporters with the viral videos and published multiple names on their platforms. These names included Sean Zanni, John Shearer, and Dimitrios Kambouris. Sean Zanni and John Shearer work for Getty, while Dimitrios Kambouris works for Getty and Wirelmage.

The fandom also discovered Instagram, X, and YouTube channels, as well as the address of the photographer and paparazzi Sean Zanni, and shared it with others. They accused him of passing racist and mockery comments against Stray Kids.

As a result, on the morning of May 9, 2024, the internet woke up to the news that Sean Zanni's website (whose link is available on his Instagram account) was reportedly hacked. As an individual clicked on the link, the screen with the words "#APOLOGIZETOSTRAYKIDS" was visible.

Nobody has claimed responsibility for reportedly hacking Sean Zanni's website. However, STAYs are satisfied as they believe that the photographer allegedly lacked professionalism for passing racist comments at the prestigious fashion event.

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Meanwhile, Stray Kids emerged as the first K-pop group to grace the New York Met Gala and create history. According to data on X, they were the most mentioned celebrities on the social media platform on May 6, 2024. Lefty has also reported that group member Felix was the most visible male celebrity at the fashion event, generating an Earned Media Value of $10.4 million.

Stray Kids will release their upcoming track, Lose My Breath, in collaboration with American singer Charlie Puth on May 10, 2024. As reported by the South Korean media outlet Star News, the group will make its much-awaited comeback on July 19, 2024.

The eight-member group will headline the I-Days Milan and BST Hyde Park music festivals on July 12 and July 14, respectively.