Reid, though she apologized for previous homophobic posts that came to light, has denied writing these, claiming instead that her blog was "hacked" by people who want to paint her in a bad light. While hacking remains a hot topic due to alleged election meddling and ransomware in Atlanta, Georgia, the issue of cybersecurity in this case doesn't appear to check out.
"When we reviewed the archives, we found nothing to indicate tampering or hacking of the Wayback Machine versions. At least some of the examples of allegedly fraudulent posts provided to us had been archived at different dates and by different entities," reads a statement by Internet Archive, the nonprofit responsible for the Wayback Machine.
While Reid's team scrambles to find answers to the MSNBC host's blast from the past, it may prove to be a cheaper option to use this as a teachable moment in tolerance and transformation.