Theme park actor fired for making 'OK' symbol on 6-year-old's shoulder
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A Colorado couple was looking through photos from a trip to Florida when they happened upon one showing a theme-park actor making what appeared to be a symbol of hate on their 6-year-old daughter's shoulder.
Back in March,Tiffiney and Richard Zinger traveled to Universal Orlando to attend a character breakfast at the Loews Royal Pacific Resort, a Universal hotel, according to a USA Today report. During the event, the family’s now 7-year-old daughter, who is both biracial and has autism, poised with an actor dressed as Gru from "Despicable Me."
It wasn't until months later that the parents of the young girl noticed a photo showing the character had formed an upside-down “OK” symbol just above her shoulder, according to the report.
The hand gesture, in which the thumb and forefinger form a circle to show everything is fine, is now widely associated with white supremacy and the far right when the hand is turned downward instead of upward.
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The darker meaning dates to at least 2017, when message boards such as 4chan falsely promoted it as a hate symbol, claiming it represented the letters “wp,” for “white power” according to the Anti-Defamation League, a Jewish civil rights organization. It quickly gained popularity among some members of the far right, who posted pictures of themselves making the gesture, the organization said.
After the Zingers began digging into the matter, they happened upon a video taken at the same time as the picture, USA Today reported. The film showed the girl being gestured toward the character, who formed his hands into the symbol while she was standing beside him.
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A Universal Orlando Resort spokesman confirmed to FOX Business that the actor has since been fired.
"We never want our guests to experience what this family did," the spokesman said. "This is not acceptable and we are sorry – and we are taking steps to make sure nothing like this happens again."