It’s one thing for athletes to trend online because of a buzzer-beater or a viral interview. It’s another entirely when their social media accounts suddenly erupt with profanity, conspiracy theories, and political attacks. That’s exactly what happened this week, not during a game, not in a press conference, but on one of the most-watched stages in the digital world: X.

At first glance, the posts looked too wild to be true. A flurry of messages targeting Donald Trump, Israel, and even other celebrities appeared on the feed of an NBA All-Star, language so shocking, so far removed from his usual public image, that fans instantly knew something was wrong. Screenshots began circulating, raising eyebrows and fueling speculation about whether this was a publicity stunt, a meltdown, or something darker.

As more posts kept coming, the picture became clear: Jimmy Butler’s official X account was hacked.

On August 20, 2025, screenshots of Butler’s verified profile began spreading online. In them, an unknown hacker had taken over and posted a rapid series of offensive, politically charged, and outright hateful messages. These weren’t the typical trolling replies you see under an athlete’s post; they were coming from the account itself. And they were bad.

One message read: “since everyone too scared to speak up about it imma hack every celeb and athlete and tweet the truth.” Another, just minutes later, escalated with a demand: “release the files p***y we aint forget @realDonaldTrump.”

The hacker didn’t stop there. In a disturbing spiral, one post contained a racial slur and told someone to “k*** yourself,” while another declared, “yall r**e children.” To add fuel to the chaos, the intruder also posted an antisemitic political cartoon depicting Donald Trump being led on a leash by another political figure, mocking him as “Yes, Daddy!” Screenshots show that the hacker even piggybacked off a WikiLeaks post, replying with “100%” to a claim about Thai women working in Israeli agriculture, trying to make it look like Butler was endorsing the statistic.

This wasn’t just random nonsense. There was a pattern. The posts combined antisemitic imagery, anti-Trump conspiracy theories, and pro-Palestinian talking points, eerily similar to the infamous “Elmo hack” of July 2025, when Sesame Street’s beloved character account was hijacked and used to spread antisemitic slurs and bizarre Trump conspiracies. That hack drew global headlines and even condemnation from groups like the Anti-Defamation League. Butler’s case, while nearly identical in style, somehow flew under the radar of mainstream coverage.

Why does this matter? Because it shows that what happened to Jimmy Butler isn’t just a one-off prank. High-profile accounts on X have become prime targets for politically motivated hacktivists and chaos agents. In early 2025, actors, politicians, and even the Tor Project had their feeds taken over by crypto scams. Comedian Issa Rae’s account was hacked in February that year. And then came the Elmo incident, which set the precedent for politically charged hijacks. Butler’s account now fits neatly into this growing list of victims.

The timeline of Jimmy Butler’s Chaos

The timeline of the takeover is also telling. The earliest malicious post appeared around 15 minutes before the screenshots were captured, as seen in the Twitter post by Essentiallysports’ reporter. Then, like clockwork, new posts followed at 8 minutes, 5 minutes, 3 minutes, and 2 minutes before the screenshots. The hacker knew the takeover wouldn’t last long, even acknowledging it by writing, “reply for a follow before he gets his acc back.” Sure enough, within an hour, all of the posts were deleted, suggesting Butler’s team or X’s own security stepped in to restore control.

Yet, unlike Sesame Workshop during the Elmo hack, neither Jimmy Butler nor the Golden State Warriors issued any public statement about the breach. No acknowledgement, no apology, no “we’re working on it.” Just silence. And that silence is interesting in itself, perhaps a strategy to prevent amplifying the offensive content, or maybe because the team wanted to quietly handle it behind the scenes.

What about responsibility? No group has claimed the hack, but many observers point to pro-Palestinian hacker collectives, particularly the group known as Dark Storm Team. Earlier in 2025, Dark Storm took credit for a massive outage of X and has a track record of targeting Israel-supporting governments and platforms. While there’s no confirmed evidence linking them to Butler’s account, the similarities in style and content to the Elmo hack, which bore all the hallmarks of politically motivated sabotage, are hard to ignore.

And yet, despite the hateful and inflammatory nature of the posts, the wider reaction to Jimmy Butler’s hack was surprisingly muted. Fans were shocked in the moment, of course, but major news outlets didn’t pick up the story the way they did with Elmo. Perhaps the timing, smack in the middle of the night, buried it. Or maybe the screenshots were dismissed by journalists as too fringe without official confirmation. Whatever the reason, Butler’s account quietly went back to normal while the internet’s attention drifted elsewhere.

The lack of mainstream coverage doesn’t change the seriousness of the hack. For a player like Jimmy Butler, whose reputation is built not only on performance but also professionalism, even a short-lived hijack poses a risk to his image. The hacker’s messages weren’t just random nonsense; they were designed to shock, offend, and associate Butler’s name with conspiracy-laden rhetoric. That stain can linger even after the posts are scrubbed.

Looking at the bigger picture, this raises questions about the safety of athlete and celebrity accounts in general. If someone like Jimmy Butler can be hacked this easily, and his feed weaponized to spread antisemitic cartoons and political attacks, what does it say about X’s ability to protect high-profile users? And more importantly, what happens when the next hack isn’t quickly noticed or cleaned up?

For now, the incident seems to be over. Butler’s account is back under control, the offensive tweets are gone, and life goes on. But the hack serves as a reminder that in today’s digital age, reputations can be hijacked in minutes. And sometimes, those minutes are all it takes to make headlines, or in this case, spark whispers that may never fully go away.

So here’s the question: do you think platforms like X are doing enough to protect high-profile accounts from hacks like the one that hit Jimmy Butler, or are these incidents bound to keep happening until something bigger forces change?