‘Stolen’ nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence leaked online by hacker

Naked pictures of Jennifer Lawrence were among a number of nude and risque images posted online Sunday in what appears to be a major breach of celebrity accounts.

“This is a flagrant violation of privacy,” a spokesperson for “The Hunger Games” star said in a statement. “The authorities have been contacted and will prosecute anyone who posts the stolen photos of Jennifer Lawrence.”

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FOR THE RECORD

8:55 a.m.: This post originally referred to the Anna Kendrick film “Up in the Air” incorrectly as “In the Air.”

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For a while in the afternoon, “anyone” turned into quite a large number: Searching for Jennifer Lawrence, Kate Upton or related hashtags on Twitter yielded hundreds of retweets of several nude or near-nude images. Hours later, Twitter appeared to have responded, and the flow of images decreased.

While the Upton photos -- one of which appears to include Detroit Tigers pitcher Justin Verlander, also in the buff -- were not confirmed, actress Mary Elizabeth Winstead of “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Killer” fame seemed to acknowledge that shots of her were legit.

“To those of you looking at photos I took with my husband years ago in the privacy of our home, hope you feel great about yourselves,” Winstead wrote.

Ariana Grande’s people told Billboard that pictures of the former Nickelodeon star were fake, while actress Victoria Justice tweeted the same about alleged shots of herself.

“Up in the Air” star Anna Kendrick tweeted a text from her brother that read, “I have never been happier to not see your name on a list.”

Kendrick’s comment? “Don’t worry bro, it would just be photos of food and other people’s dogs anyway.”

The hacker or hackers behind the stolen photos first posted them on the image-based online bulletin board 4chan, according to BuzzFeed. How or from where the pictures were obtained was unclear Sunday night.

Follow Christie D’Zurilla on Twitter @theCDZ and Google+. Follow the Ministry of Gossip on Twitter @LATcelebs.