Hand Sign Flashed By Students At Army-Navy Game Under Scrutiny

ANNAPOLIS, MD — Military officials are investigating whether Army and Navy academy students flashed what is believed to be a "white power" hand sign on live TV at Saturday's Army-Navy football game. A few West Point cadets and Naval Academy midshipmen showed the sign during the ESPN pregame broadcast.

“We’re looking into it. I don’t know what their intention is,” Lt. Col. Chris Ophardt, a spokesperson for the military academy at West Point in New York, told the Wall Street Journal.

Cmdr. Alana Garas, a spokesperson for the U.S. Naval Academy, in Annapolis, Maryland, said: “We are aware and will be looking into it.”

The hand sign, which looks like a sign for “OK” with the thumb and forefinger touching to make a circle, has recently become a symbol used by white supremacists, according to the Anti-Defamation League. The group recently added the sign to its database of hate symbols. Last year, the Coast Guard disciplined an officer who flashed the sign during an MSNBC live TV segment.

Both West Point and the Naval Academy are now looking into a troubling incident during the annual Army-Navy football game – students caught on camera flashing what appeared to be a white supremacist hand sign. https://t.co/bGUy31RxcV
— TODAY (@TODAYshow) December 16, 2019