A Coast Guard emergency response team is down one crew member after a Coastie allegedly flashed the \u201cOK\u201d hand signal increasingly associated with white supremacy while the team\u2019s captain was being interviewed on MSNBC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Coast Guard Capt. John Reed, the head of hurricane response efforts in Charleston, South Carolina, appeared on \u201cLive with Ali Velshi” to discuss the changing path of Hurricane Florence<\/a> and the tactics used to account for the system\u2019s unpredictability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But as Reed explained his team\u2019s operations, a crew member sitting at a table in the frame\u2019s background looked directly at the camera and appeared to make the \u201cOK\u201d gesture as he moved his hand across the right side of his face.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The alleged \u201cwhite power\u201d gesture, one that originated as a hoax<\/a>, was quickly spotted by Twitter users everywhere who immediately called for punitive measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The service\u2019s response to the incident was swift, as the crew member in question was immediately reassigned and an official Coast Guard statement condemning the alleged offender was subsequently released.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are aware of the offensive video on twitter – the Coast Guard has identified the member and removed him from the response,\u201d the Coast Guard\u2019s official Twitter<\/a> announced. \u201cHis actions do not reflect those of the United States Coast Guard.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The incident remains under investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The origins of using the \u201cOK\u201d hand gesture as a symbol of white supremacy can be traced back to a 2017 troll campaign on the popular 4chan board \u201c\/pol\/ \u2014 Politically Incorrect,\u201d an effort aimed at inciting outrage on the part of liberals and media.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cTo any who haven\u2019t seen the original thread, our goal is to convince people on twitter that the \u2018ok\u2019 hand sign has been co-opted by neo-nazis,\u201d the prank\u2019s original poster wrote on the board.<\/p>\n\n\n\t