Posted on 09/15/2018 9:05:28 AM PDT by Drew68
The U.S. Coast Guard says it “removed” a member from its Hurricane Florence response team Friday after he made an “OK” hand gesture on live TV that the service branch deemed “offensive.”
The unidentified team member was caught looking into the camera and then swiftly making the hand gesture, prompting a backlash on social media.
The hand signal was seen in the background of MSNBC’s live interview with Sector Charleston Commanding Officer Capt. John Reed, who was providing an update on actions taken by the Coast Guard in response to Hurricane Florence.
Many social media users called for the firing of the individual, accusing him of making a so-called “white power” hate symbol.
The agency immediately responded to the outcry and distanced from the controversy.
“We are aware of the offensive video on twitter - the Coast Guard has identified the member and removed him from the response. His actions do not reflect those of the United States Coast Guard,” the agency tweeted.
The Guard is now investigating the matter. In a statement, the agency said the incident was a “frustrating distraction” amid the dangerous hurricane that is poised to affect more than 10 million people this week in the Southeast.
There have been at least four deaths since the storm reached the coastline on Friday morning, according to officials.
There’s no clear consensus whether the “OK” hand gesture constitutes a hate symbol. While it has been adopted by some fringe far-right figures, it has also been commonly used by many Trump supporters.
The Anti-Defamation League previously noted that the “OK” gesture isn’t a hate symbol.
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Lol.
Want to go bankrupt? Develop and try to sell products that “social media” says they want.
It’s mostly bots. All these twitter storms are completely bogus.
Who cares what millenial basement dwellers think anyhow?
But it was ok for Hillary to become president after using a private server when she was Secretary of State.
Someone needs to tell the constantly offended to go screw themselves. It’s out of control and totally ridiculous. If you walk through life looking to be offended by every little thing that’s your problem. There is no right to not be offended.
Hope he wasn’t in charge of guiding helps to areas to rescue Black Carolians,
‘Helos’
I’m beginning to wonder how so many people have become so insane.
No disciplinary action was taken.
Cowboy clown w/Obama mask- Fired
Little frog - Super racist symbol
OK sign - Reduces millions to little “bags of nerves”
People are riduculous, these days.
Looks like he’s scratching his ear; it lasted about one second. Since he’s just a guy sitting in the background, and since the camera was focused on the guy standing up, he probably didn’t even know he was in the picture. This is about as silly as it gets.
Enough already. Stop letting assholes set the rules for the rest of us. The o.k gesture has been around for a long time. The fact that some pranksters at 4chan started a false story for it should have been laughed off and ignored. But now a good person has to defend themselves against the baseless hysterics of a mob inflicted with a terminal case of the galloping stupids.
He was putting his ear piece in/adjusting as you said. You can see it between his fingers. Poor guy, he probably did not even know what he was supposed to have done wrong.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.