NBC decided that the “OK” hand gesture was no longer suitable for its audiences, blurring out the symbol in its coverage of a Chicago Cubs fan who flashed the it during a sideline report at a recent game.

The network deemed that the “hand symbol [has] become associated with white supremacy” stemming from a 4chan prank from 2017.

NBC has been hung up on the prank since September, when it harangued a Coast Guard serviceman who flashed the symbol in the background while the network was interviewing his commanding officer.

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Of course, the mainstreaming of the idea that the “OK” symbol, which has been used for decades as a signal of approval, is now a white supremacist gesture, is exactly what the 4chan trolls wanted. The Anti-Defamation League (ADL) and its lap dog media fell for the hoax, hook, line, and sinker.

The ADL even recognized the “white supremacy” association with the symbol is a hoax.

“The ‘OK’ hand gesture originated as one of these hoaxes in February 2017 when an anonymous 4channer announced ‘Operation O-KKK,’ telling other members that ‘we must flood Twitter and other social media websites … claiming that the OK hand sign is a symbol of white supremacy,'” the ADL said on its website.

The symbol is also associated with “the circle game,” played by children. When one person flashes the symbol and another looks at it – through the circle – the flasher gets to punch the looker in the arm.

Still, the “racist” Cubs fan has been banned from Wrigley Field for life.

“The incident last night is truly disgusting,” Cubs President of Baseball Operations Theo Epstein said. “It gave me shivers to watch that, to see that take place at Wrigley Field. Appropriately, we’ve made clear how egregious and unacceptable that behavior is, and there’s no place for that in society, in baseball, and Wrigley Field. The person responsible for that gesture will never be welcomed back at Wrigley Field.”

Follow Peter D’Abrosca on Twitter: @pdabrosca

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