Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission Meeting Interrupted by Porn Display

A virtual meeting held Thursday by the Alabama Medical Cannabis Commission (AMCC) was reportedly interrupted by a brief smattering of pornography in a suspected cyber attack.

AMCC Communications Director Brittany Peters said that someone on the Zoom call unmuted themselves, which then displayed porn. She said it wasn’t shown on a full screen, but rather the smaller speaker display box for that participant, according to Al.com.

Peters said it happened near the end of the call. She removed that participant as soon as she noticed and said the incident lasted less than 10 seconds.

“While regrettable, interruptions such as those that occurred at yesterday’s meeting are not entirely preventable in any public meeting,” Peters told Alabama Daily News. 

“The interruption yesterday was not from a member of the commission and AMCC swiftly removed the unknown individual. We are reviewing options offered by Zoom and other video conferencing programs that may help mitigate the risk of such interruptions in future virtual meetings.”

AMCC Executive Director John McMillan, who was in the conference room where a larger display of the meeting happened, said those in that room didn’t actually see the porn on screen, but heard something that sounded like a loud gasp.

“We were concerned that somebody had a heart attack," he said.

“It was bad,” said Sam Blakemore, a member of the AMCC.

Blakemore said all commissioners saw the clip and suspected it was a cyber attack by an unknown individual who joined the meeting. He said the commission will work with state officials to guarantee more secure measures for future live streams of official state meetings.

“A few folks called me afterwards to ask if I saw (it),” Blakemore said. “I never had anything like that happen.”

AMCC is still investigating who displayed the porn and how to prevent instances like this in the future.