Anti-Defamation League Deems ‘OK’ Hand Gesture a Hate Symbol

The Anti-Defamation League has previously warned about the use of the “OK” hand gesture, but now it has officially deemed it as a hate symbol. On Thursday, the ADL added the gesture to its “Hate on Display” database, which includes symbols of racism and anti-Semitism such as swastikas, Ku Klux Klan robes, and burning crosses among others. 

“Even as extremists continue to use symbols that may be years or decades old, they regularly create new symbols, memes and slogans to express their hateful sentiments,” ADL CEO Jonathan Greenblatt said, per NBC News.

The database first launched in 2000 in an attempt to help figures of authority recognize signs of extremist activity, and in the years since it has amassed over 200 entries. 

The majority of the more recent entries on the database have stemmed from the usual dark corners of the internet such as 4chan and 8chan, but some were birthed on Reddit, Facebook, and Twitter. The “OK” gesture, while usually associated as an indication that everything is going okay, has been co-opted by the far-right and alt-right in recent years. In 2017, the ADL warned that it wasn’t actually a hate symbol but a hoax from 4chan. Originally it was suggested in the hoax that the gesture formed the letters “W” and “P,” standing for “white power.” While that has since been debunked, the ADL has indicated that it has since evolved into a genuine showcase of white supremacy. 

Brenton Tarrant, the Australian man who killed 51 people at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand earlier this year, held up the “OK” gesture when he was in court following his arrest. ADL’s Center on Extremism director Oren Segal added they didn’t add it to the database for such a long time “because ‘OK’ has meant ‘OK’ for so long.” Segal added, “At this point, there is enough of a volume of use for hateful purposes that we felt it was important to add.”

Among other new entries to the database include the “Moon Man” meme, which originated from McDonald’s commercials in the ’80s, and the “Dylann Roof Bowlcut.” The hair style has been associated with white supremacy and mass shooters since Roof murdered nine people at a church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015.