When a North Vancouver Island cleaning franchise Men in Kilts, created a local advertisement, little did they know that an OK gesture made by an employee in the picture would be the subject of a B次元官网网址榳hite supremacistB次元官网网址� controversy.
In the picture, the individual is seen posing along with his colleagues, atop a van making the upside-down OK gesture.
Until that morning, neither the employee nor Men in KiltB次元官网网址檚 general manager, Chris Strong, knew that among all other meanings that the OK gesture carried, white supremacy was an interpretation.
The advertisement flyer was distributed along with local newspapers on the Island, including the Campbell River Mirror. Neither Black Press nor the Mirror was involved in any step of creating the advertisement which Men in Kilts distributed through the papers.
The picture was criticized on social media for propagating a white supremacy agenda with certain people even demanding the advertisement be pulled out. Residents even called up the Campbell River Mirror to protest about the advertisement and demanded a retraction.
In 2019, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), a Jewish civil rights organization added the gesture along with 36 other symbols to its B次元官网网址楬ate on DisplayB次元官网网址� database which tracks hate groups to spot potential warning signs of antisemitism and extremism.
However, given the long history of usage and multiple associations of the OK gesture, ADL had stressed the fact that context is always key to determine if the gesture is B次元官网网址�.B次元官网网址�
In this case, when the Mirror spoke with the employee, he said that the gesture was an inside joke involving the once-popular B次元官网网址榗ircle gameB次元官网网址� that he played with his childhood friends while growing up on a reserve in Prince Rupert.
The B次元官网网址榗ircle game,B次元官网网址� has been around as a school prank since the 70s and was made popular through an episode of the sitcom Malcolm in the Middle in 2000.
As per the game, if the person makes the gesture, palm-inward below their own waistline, and gets an opponent to look at it, he gets to punch the opponent in the arm.
B次元官网网址淭his is a millennial game and IB次元官网网址檝e been at it for over 18 years now and it has been a huge part of my childhood,B次元官网网址� said the 30-year-old individual who was excited to be featured in an advertisement and used the sign to signal to his friends when they saw it.
He also told the Mirror that it was upsetting to be labelled a B次元官网网址渨hite supremacistB次元官网网址� and that people had jumped to conclusions and B次元官网网址渞uined things.B次元官网网址�
The individual also identified himself to be Indigenous and said that he would never even think of propagating racism or any form of white supremacy.
He has been vocal about his support for the B次元官网网址楤lack Lives MatterB次元官网网址� on social media and ironically he received the call about him being called a white supremacist when he was typing a comment on social media calling out people on racism.
B次元官网网址淚t makes me mad,B次元官网网址� he said about the fact that his circle game gesture was being pushed as an extremely negative act. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 not fair.B次元官网网址�
Strong also came out in support of his employee and said that the gesture was an innocent expression and far from what it was interpreted as.
B次元官网网址淭he kid had some game going on with his friend,B次元官网网址� said Strong and added that people were blowing things out of proportion.
B次元官网网址淚B次元官网网址檓 disappointed in people who are looking at things that are wrong with the world instead of looking at things that are right with the world,B次元官网网址� said Strong.
Strong also said that Men in Kilts is a B次元官网网址渕ulti-ethnic employerB次元官网网址� and pointed out that most people in the picture come from diverse ethnic backgrounds. With all those mixed-race people in the advertisement, white supremacy was hardly the message that they were looking to communicate.
Strong also said that they would be cautious about the gesture in the future.
The once innocent B次元官网网址極KB次元官网网址� gesture, more commonly used to simply describe B次元官网网址榓ll is wellB次元官网网址�, B次元官网网址榞oodB次元官网网址�, or B次元官网网址榮uperbB次元官网网址� has multiple cultural connotations across the globe.
The gesture first came to be associated with B次元官网网址渨hite powerB次元官网网址� in 2017 as a hoax. Certain users of an online message board B次元官网网址� 4chan B次元官网网址� began B次元官网网址極peration O-KKKB次元官网网址� to see if they could trick mainstream media and liberals into believing that the gesture was a symbol of white power.
It ceased being a hoax when Neo-Nazis, Ku Klux Klansmen and other white nationalist started using the gesture as a signal. For these groups, the letters formed by the hand were W and P which stood for B次元官网网址渨hite power.B次元官网网址�
The gesture gained more traction in mainstream media after Brenton Tarrant, the white supremacist accused of killing 50 people in a mass shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand flashed the sign to reporters at his court hearing.
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