A member of the U.S. Coast Guard was removed from Florence response and recovery efforts after flashing an alleged white nationalist hand gesture during a live TV interview.
“We are aware of the offensive video on twitter – the Coast Guard has identified the member and removed him from the response,” the Coast Guard tweeted late Friday from its official account. “His actions do not reflect those of the United States Coast Guard.”
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.
— U.S. Coast Guard (@USCG) September 15, 2018
The unidentified man made the alleged “white power” hand signal, which looks similar to an “ok” sign, in the background of an interview Capt. John Reed gave to MSNBC on Friday from a command center in South Carolina, according to NBC News. Reed was talking about the Coast Guard’s strategy for Florence, which in the past couple days has weakened from a hurricane to a tropical depression.
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
Coast Guard officials declined to name the man nor discuss any disciplinary action that may be taken when NBC News asked for comment.
The hand gesture has been linked to white nationalists because it looks like a “W” and “P,” which symbolizes “white power.” But its use causes some confusion because the same sign is also part of the Circle Game. The Circle Game is where participants jokingly punch anyone they can trick into looking at the signal.
The Anti-Defamation League additionally claims the neo-Nazi connection to the gesture is actually an Internet hoax started by online discussion board, 4chan, to mock liberals.
