universal orlando fires gru actor ok symbol gesture

A Universal Orlando actor has been fired after photographs were discovered in which he appears to be making the controversial "OK" hand gesture while posing in a photograph.

During a trip to Universal Orlando last March, Colorado residents Tiffiney and Richard Zinger took photographs of their children with Despicable Me character actors at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort. After returning from their vacation, they discovered a person dressed as the character Gru holding his forefinger against his thumb while resting a hand on their daughter's shoulder.

After the Zingers shared the photograph along with video footage of the incident with various news media outlets, Universal Orlando released a statement confirming that the actor was no longer employed with the company and that they were working with the family "to make this right."

News of the actor's termination has sparked debates online over whether he was intentionally making a symbol of hate. On Reddit, a post about the story on /r/ChangeMyView received over 730 comments at the time this was written, with many arguing over how the gesture should be interpreted.

The gesture became associated with white supremacy following a notorious 2017 hoax campaign orchestrated by 4chan users known as Operation O-KKK, which aimed to fool internet users and news media into thinking it was a "white power symbol."

Earlier this year, Brenton Tarrant, who murdered 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand, was photographed making the gesture during an appearance in court.

Most recently, the Anti-Defamation League added the "OK" gesture to their growing list of hate symbols, along with the bowl cut hairstyle, the anti-Semitic Happy Merchant meme and the Moon Man McDonald's mascot.