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Fox News cuts live feed as Trump supporter flashes white supremacist 'OK', Internet says 'not quick enough'

The man flashed the symbol for nearly 20 seconds before the camera cut to a live shot of the White House and the interview continued with just the audio

Fox News abruptly cut from its interview of a Trump supporter at the president's rally in Dalton, Georgia, on Monday, January 4, to the feed of the White House after another supporter appeared to flash the white supremacist sign in the background.

Ahead of President Donald Trump's rally in Dalton, a group of Trump supporters chanted "stop the steal" as Fox News correspondent Griff Jenkins began his live coverage of the event. Jenkins was speaking to a man about the rally when another man positioned directly in front of the camera, wearing a MAGA hat, began flashing what has been called a white power hand sign. The man flashed the symbol for nearly 20 seconds before the camera cut to a live shot of the White House. The interview continued with just the audio.

Soon, Fox News was being trolled on social media as soon as the footage went viral. "Somebody in that control room just said — and I quote — 'AND I OOP,'" one of them said while another stated, "I genuinely cherish that there are so many people telling you that wasn't abrupt." A third noted, "I didn’t see the abrupt cut away, he flashed it at least 3 times before they cut away." One more added, "14 seconds... not quick enough." A commenter tweeted, "I really no longer care if bad things happen to these people."

One more commented, "LOL there was nothing abrupt about that. I counted it at 25 seconds." The next wrote, "I must’ve missed the 'abruptly' part with that white power sign flashing in my eye...." A person said, "Define 'abruptly' because that was a good 20-25 seconds on screen." Another said, "'Abruptly' seems kind of a strong word here...it took them a little bit."

We reported last year that the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) has reportedly designated the "OK" hand gesture as a hate symbol. The OK sign, made with joining the index finger with the thumb in the shape of a circle, is known universally as a signifier for suggesting everything is all right or made in approval of something. However, the symbol has lately been co-opted by the alt-right.

According to the ADL, the OK hand gesture and its connection to white nationalism began as a hoax made up by the users of 4chan website. The users reportedly falsely linked it to white supremacy. Although it was initially meant to be a bait for media or people with liberal ideals to overreact, the sign, in 2019, was adopted by some white nationalists, ADL experts say. "At least some white supremacists seem to have abandoned the ironic or satiric intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy,” the ADL posted in its report.

The organization's experts pointed to Brenton Tarrant, the Australian white supremacist who massacred 51 people at two New Zealand mosques in March by opening fire at them. Tarrant, shortly after his arrest, was pictured using the OK symbol during a courtroom appearance. He has not yet pleaded guilty. SDL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt, in a statement, said: "We believe law enforcement and the public needs to be fully informed about the meaning of these images, which can serve as a first warning sign to the presence of haters in a community or school."