Redditors raise money for Prostate Cancer 'in honour' of Jennifer Lawrence's naked photos

The website's users believe it to be one of Ms Lawrence's favourite charities

Redditors are raising money for the Prostate Cancer Foundation "in honour of Jennifer Lawrence's naked pictures" (Prostate Cancer Foundation)

Reddit users are attempting to absolve themselves of voyeurism-induced guilt for looking at nude pictures of Jennifer Lawrence, by donating to the Prostate Cancer Foundation (PCF).

As the ‘photo leak’ saga continues, Redditors have apparently found a way to reconcile their salivating over stolen naked pictures of female celebrities with their morals.

“In honour of JLaw [a widely-used nickname for Ms Lawrence]” is a popular message posted alongside donations of anything from $5 to even $100.

So far, Redditors have raised $6,000 (£3,600) in a campaign titled ‘The Fappening’ – the unofficial name bestowed on the photo leak scandal by web users.

A hacker obtained numerous private photos – some deleted – from as many as 100 female public figures at the weekend, purportedly taken from Apple’s iCloud storage, before posting the lot online.

Ms Lawrence had a number of pictures stolen in a “flagrant violation of privacy”, her representative said yesterday.

According to some of the people on Reddit, Ms Lawrence has previously donated to help battle prostate cancer so “the least we can do is follow suit for helping us maintain our long-term health by donating. Be the hero TheFappening deserves!” one said.

It cannot immediately be verified whether Ms Lawrence has, previously, donated.

Others have bizarrely called for it to be the new Ice Bucket Challenge, while one posted a screenshot showing the top fundraisers – the Redditors claiming pole position – alongside the comment: “Awesome! This makes me laugh and feel good all at once. We're now the top fundraiser for PCF, in honour of JLaw's nudes.”

Conversations over how Ms Lawrence will feel about thousands of dollars being donated in her name, thanks to her nude pictures, have led some believing that she won’t be able to stay “mad” at them for long.

“I actually do hope she'll feel better if she saw this [campaign]”. A person responds: “I doubt she'll think that donations to a charity will make up for a blatant violation of her privacy. Donating doesn't somehow justify the morally reprehensible way these were obtained.”

The move follows a campaign by users of 4chan – the website that the images were posted to – called #LeakForJLaw, which aimed to show “solidarity” with the actress by encouraging the dissemination of naked images of ordinary women, though the hashtag was high-jacked by people poking fun at it instead.

PCF and Jennifer Lawrence have been contacted by The Independent for comment.