This is stupid. Just stupid. And will probably lose the Cubs some fans
Cubs investigating fan’s alleged white power hand gesture, threaten lifetime ban
The Chicago Cubs are investigating a fan at Tuesday night’s game who possibly flashed a white power symbol on TV during a live report from the Wrigley Field stands.
The hand symbol was made while Doug Glanville was reporting for NBC Sports Chicago. You can see the gesture in the image below, made by the guy wearing the gray sweatshirt.
Cubs president of business operations Crane Kenney released this statement about the incident on Wednesday morning, via WGN:
A long statement of Social Justice Warrioring, which ended up with the unidentified fan being banned. Here’s what it looks like
The @cubs fell for an Internet prank about the okay sign being a white power gesture & banned a fan for life for flashing it. Then the same day they paid Addison Russell millions of dollars to play baseball for them even though he beat his wife. Read this: https://t.co/Zdy68bT2QY
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 9, 2019
But, good on the original Yahoo article
The symbol, which appears to be the “OK†hand gesture, has a complicated background. It never had any white power connections until 2017, when a few members of the alt-right started a hoax to trick people into thinking that it did. The purpose was for anyone who made that innocuous gesture to be accused of racism. It’s a form of internet trolling, but the white power movement ended up co-opting the gesture and using it to actually symbolize white power.
Of course, the complicated history of the symbol makes this entire situation even more complicated. Even though the symbol was flashed behind an African-American reporter, the intent isn’t clear. If it was meant as a white power symbol, it’s a despicable action. But if it was meant as the “OK†gesture, then it’s nothing. The Cubs will hopefully be thorough in their investigation, especially since they’re threatening a permanent ban from Wrigley Field.
There’s a 99% chance that it was
So the Cubs banned a fan for life for playing the circle/shoulder punch game, but promoted Addison Russell, ON THE SAME DAY, to the Cubs roster even though he beat his wife. Sports, in 2019.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) May 9, 2019
I wonder what happens if attendance goes down? Also, I wonder if people start doing this when they know they are camera more just to troll the idiots?
