The Chicago Bears Twitter account just set off a firestorm when it announced that there was a new owner in the fold. His name is Turki Alalshikh. He’s listed as an advisor to the Royal Court of Saudi Arabia. He also the owner of the UD Almeria FC Spanish soccer club. Needless to say, fans were thoroughly confused by the baffling announcement, leading to speculation that the account may have been hacked. The fact it was taken down just minutes later seems to confirm this.
Apparently it was the work of a hacker group named OurMine. They are based out of Saudi Arabia who has successfully hacked the accounts of several major celebrities over the years including Twitter founder Jack Dorsey, Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg, and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. Clearly these guys love to mess with people and the Bears appear to have been their latest target.
One can only imagine how Bears fandom would’ve reacted if this were real. A charter franchise of American professional sports handed over to a foreigner with ties to a regime known for the often severe repression of their people. There could have been incredible repercussions. Of course, anybody with a lick of sense knows the McCaskey family would never have actually allowed it. They aren’t interested in selling the team to anybody, let alone a Saudi Arabian dilatant.
