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The Cubs said they are investigating an incident in which a fan sitting behind NBC Sports Chicago reporter Doug Glanville used a racist gesture on air last night.

The fan, a white male, used the gesture while Glanville, who is black, was making an on-air report during the Cubs’ win over the Marlins.

It’s been associated with white nationalists and right-wing trolls in recent years.

Team president of baseball operations Crane Kenney said in an email statement several hours after the Cubs’ 5-2 victory were aware of the gesture and looking into it.

“An individual seated behind Mr. Glanville used what appears to be an offensive hand gesture that is associated with racism, Kenney said. “Such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field. We are reviewing the incident thoroughly because no one should be subjected to this type of offensive behavior.

“Any derogatory conduct should be reported immediately to our ballpark staff. Any individual behaving in this manner will not only be removed from the ballpark, but will be permanently banned from Wrigley Field.”

During a third-inning report, Glanville, who was standing beside the Cubs’ dugout, was talking to play-by-play announcer Len Kasper when a fan in the background started making several gestures.

The bearded fan, who was wearing a grey Cubs sweatshirt and blue pants, held an upside-down “OK” sign, which has been appropriated by white supremacists, next to Glanville’s head before the broadcast cut to a graphic.

This comes less than a month after Major League Baseball launched an investigation into racist messages sent to Cubs relief pitcher Carl Edwards Jr. on social media.

 

 

Last September, the Coast Guard said a member of its hurricane response team had been removed after he made the white power hand signal during a live broadcast.

 

 

White nationalists, neo-Nazis and Klansmen have increasingly begun using the use of the symbol both to signal their presence to the like-minded, as well as to identify potentially sympathetic recruits.

People who flash the sign typically claim innocence of any racist intent by attesting that they “only meant it ironically” and that their real purpose was to anger liberals and minorities.

 

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