The Coast Guard said a member of its hurricane response team has been removed after he made the white power hand signal during a live broadcast on Friday night.
The Coast Guard tweeted this response after social media began circulating the video.
The gesture was made on MSNBC while Captain John Reed was giving an update on Tropical Storm Florence and the response efforts in Charleston, South Carolina.
As Reed spoke, a Coast Guard member sitting at a table behind the captain is seen looking directly at the camera before quickly giving the ‘OK’ sign, a once innocuous hand signal that is now widely associated with the alt-right.
Coast Guard Lt. J.B. Zorn said this morning that the incident was under investigation.
‘We’re not going to let one person detract from the good work the Coast Guard is doing in the region,’ Zorn told NBC News. ‘We’re going to stay focused.’
Many people took to Twitter posting that the Coast Guard member needs to be fired.
The OK signal – index and thumb in a circle with the other fingers pointing up – is associated with white power.
It’s tied to an alt-right meme of the cartoon Pepe the Frog holding his hand up making the gesture. The cartoon frog was adopted by white supremacists.