ActorNed Luke, who plays Michael De Santa inGrand Theft Auto 5, shoots down rumours thatRockstaris to blame for his being doxxed. This comes afterthe actor was swatted while livesteaming GTA Online, prompting some fans to pin the blame on insecurities in the game, potentially leaking his IP address.
However, Luke has come to the company’s defence, saying that the incident has “nothing to do with Rockstar”. Instead, he says that his address was made public “years ago”, and that he’s faced harassment ever since. In fact, he reveals that this is the sixth time he’s been swatted, and it’s just one of the many occurrences of anonymous abusers sending people to his house.
“Everyone is fine, thanks for your concern,” says Luke, speaking after news of the latest doxxing went viral. “This is the SIXTH time we have been swatted, but points for originality, this time they sent the fire department. There is nothing cute or clever or funny about this.”
Luke says that the incident is being investigated by the authorities and that he is hopeful that whoever sent the call in to have his home swatted will be found. Swatting is a criminal offence, and perpetrators can be hit with heavy fines and prison time.
Luke continues, addressing fans who had speculated that his address was leaked through an insecurity inGTA Online.
“My private information was NOT attained from my livestream or from GTA Online,” says Luke. “It was leaked years ago by someone who did a routine search on the internet and thought it would be cute to put it out there. Rockstar Games is NOT to blame. Trust me, if I believed that were the case, not only would they hear from me, I would have heard from them, and their army of lawyers would handle it.”
Unfortunately, swatting has been an issue in the gaming community for years. Streamers in particular are targetted and are often swatted while they’re live.
Undeterred from celebrating his role in the series after the incident, Luke even goes on tohype up the long-awaited GTA 6 announcementwe’re getting next month: “Get ready for six. It’ll be here when the time’s right and it’s gonna be epic.”
We’re yet to see if the police are able to identify whoever made the original call to the fire department, although Luke seems confident that they have enough evidence.
