Coast Guard Removes Man Accused of 'Racist' Hand Gesture on Live TV
Twitter erupted on Friday with accusations that a member of a U.S. Coast Guard team was racist.
The outrage was sparked by a video of a Coast Guard captain talking about response efforts to Tropical Storm Florence in an interview on MSNBC.
In the background of the video, an unidentified employee’s thumb and pointer finger came together while he brushed his hand along the side of his face.
The gesture sounds pretty innocuous, right? Wrong.
Liberals claimed on social media that he was flashing a white power hate symbol. They called for the offender to be investigated, even fired.
One Twitter user wrote, “Did you all see this guy flash White Power on TV? OUR OWN COAST GUARD!!! This needs to be investigated and this man needs to be ousted/removed/discharged!”
Did you all see this guy flash White Power on TV? OUR OWN COAST GUARD!!! This needs to be investigated and this man needs to be ousted/removed/discharged!
cc:@SykesCharlie @JoyAnnReid @SRuhle @HallieJackson @NicolleDWallace @chucktodd pic.twitter.com/avuwUk9Ztc
— Jann Gobble (@jgobble) September 14, 2018
Another somewhat ominously wrote, “Racists EVERYWHERE. We need an extermination service to rid America of its vermin.”
https://twitter.com/haydenblack/status/1040829949244977153
In response to the accusations, the man was removed from the response team and is under investigation, Coast Guard Lt. J.B. Zorn told NBC News.
“Whatever that symbol means, it doesn’t reflect the Coast Guard and our core values,” Zorn said. “It won’t be tolerated.”
US Coast Guard on hand gesture seen used by a support staff member (bottom left) during an interview on @MSNBC this afternoon:
"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." pic.twitter.com/RPtgELOItM
— NBC News (@NBCNews) September 15, 2018
The Coast Guard also put out a statement Friday saying it has “identified the member and removed him from the response.”
Ironically, the idea that the “OK” sign is a hate symbol seems to be common knowledge among leftists, but not anyone else.
Even Obama is doing it!! What a racist pic.twitter.com/ba22coipSr
— FreeHongKong (@SrBelkin) September 15, 2018
Liberals seek out racism and, with the help of their trusty hand-gesture-decoder rings, can find it even in absent-minded hand movements.
They are intent on popularizing the hand sign as a hate message, while the average person wouldn’t even notice it.
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