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The Cubs are investigating a fan's alleged racist hand gesture: 'Such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field'
man who attended Tuesday’s Cubs-Marlins game is facing a possible lifetime ban from Wrigley Field for making an on-camera hand-gesture, which some associate with white supremacists, behind NBC Sports Chicago reporter Doug Glanville, who is African-American.
The bearded man wearing a Cubs hooded sweatshirt and seated in the front row by the Cubs dugout had not come forward or been identified publicly yet Wednesday.
Although the upside-down “OK” sign the man made has more benign connotations, including as part of what’s known as “the circle game,” the Cubs said they were investigating, unconvinced that’s the proper context.
“Whether this person is going to ultimately say he intended it, that he was playing ‘the circle game’ or some other stunt, the judgment to use that in connection with a respected reporter who happens to be African-American doing his job ... that connection and, in his mind, coincidence is not going to fly here,” Crane Kenney, the Cubs president of business operations, said Wednesday morning on WSCR-AM 670, the team’s flagship radio station.
Kenney said that the team had “reached the conclusion that it's more likely than not that this person was using that hand signal as a racist way of interfering with everyone's enjoyment” of the game telecast.
Earlier, Kenney had issued a statement warning that “such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field,” saying the incident was under thorough review “because no one should be subjected to this type of offensive behavior.”
Glanville was on camera talking to play-by-play announcer Len Kasper heading into the bottom of the third inning Tuesday when the man in the front row made the upside-down “OK” sign.
Long a benign gesture, this signal has been appropriated in recent years by white supremacists.
It was first a form of trolling those ideologically opposed into thinking they saw “white power” symbols everywhere. More recently, however, organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League say it has become an authentic hate symbol.
Among those to publicly flash the symbol, for example, was the terrorist and self-described racist charged with killing 51 Muslim worshipers at mosques in New Zealand.
The ADL, however, has explicitly warned “caution must be used in evaluating instances of this symbol's use.”
Kenney doesn’t expect to allow for much wiggle-room in this situation.
“If this is just really, really poor judgment on this person's part, it's still probably going to lead to their permanent expulsion from the ballpark,” Kenney told WSCR’s Dan Bernstein and Connor McKnight. “Again, we don't do that lightly. … But in our view, the burden of proof would be on him, and I'm trying to think of a way he could convince us this is not what we all think it is.”
Glanville, in a statement Wednesday, said he learned of the incident after the game and praised the response of both the Cubs and NBC Sports Chicago.
“They have reached out to me and are supportive of my role in the broadcast and continue to have a desire to uphold an inclusive environment at Wrigley Field,” Glanville said. “They have displayed sensitivity as to how the implications of this would affect me as a person of color.”
Glanville indicated he expects to have more to say once the Cubs’ “investigation has run its course.”
Kevin Cross, senior vice president and general manager of NBC Sports Chicago, called the fan’s behavior “reprehensible” and said it “clearly does not represent the great Cubs fans of our city and those around the country.”
Cubs spokesman Julian Green said the team learned of the front-row man’s gesture "well after the incident occurred" from viewers via texts and social media. By the time ballpark security people responded, the individual who made the gesture no longer was in his seat or section.
Green said the Cubs confirmed that the individual who made the gesture is not the season-ticket holder who has that seat.
The ticket was re-sold through StubHub, and the team was looking into the purchaser but did not plan to have more to say about its investigation until it was completed.
“Mobile ticketing gives us a great advantage with an incident like this because we can not only identify a ticket holder — much like a ballpark manifest — we can deny or suppress their ability to gain access in the ballpark in the future,” Green said in an email.
This is not the first racially tinged incident involving the Cubs this year.
Major League Baseball last month started an investigation regarding racist messages sent to reliever Carl Edwards through social media.
In February, emails with racist and Islamaphobic content to and from Joe Ricketts, the billionaire patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs, were published by Splinter News. He and son Tom, the team’s chairman, each issued statements that condemned their bigoted content.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...ist-gesture-wrigley-field-20190508-story.html
man who attended Tuesday’s Cubs-Marlins game is facing a possible lifetime ban from Wrigley Field for making an on-camera hand-gesture, which some associate with white supremacists, behind NBC Sports Chicago reporter Doug Glanville, who is African-American.
The bearded man wearing a Cubs hooded sweatshirt and seated in the front row by the Cubs dugout had not come forward or been identified publicly yet Wednesday.
Although the upside-down “OK” sign the man made has more benign connotations, including as part of what’s known as “the circle game,” the Cubs said they were investigating, unconvinced that’s the proper context.
“Whether this person is going to ultimately say he intended it, that he was playing ‘the circle game’ or some other stunt, the judgment to use that in connection with a respected reporter who happens to be African-American doing his job ... that connection and, in his mind, coincidence is not going to fly here,” Crane Kenney, the Cubs president of business operations, said Wednesday morning on WSCR-AM 670, the team’s flagship radio station.
Kenney said that the team had “reached the conclusion that it's more likely than not that this person was using that hand signal as a racist way of interfering with everyone's enjoyment” of the game telecast.
Earlier, Kenney had issued a statement warning that “such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field,” saying the incident was under thorough review “because no one should be subjected to this type of offensive behavior.”
Glanville was on camera talking to play-by-play announcer Len Kasper heading into the bottom of the third inning Tuesday when the man in the front row made the upside-down “OK” sign.
Long a benign gesture, this signal has been appropriated in recent years by white supremacists.
It was first a form of trolling those ideologically opposed into thinking they saw “white power” symbols everywhere. More recently, however, organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League say it has become an authentic hate symbol.
Among those to publicly flash the symbol, for example, was the terrorist and self-described racist charged with killing 51 Muslim worshipers at mosques in New Zealand.
The ADL, however, has explicitly warned “caution must be used in evaluating instances of this symbol's use.”
Kenney doesn’t expect to allow for much wiggle-room in this situation.
“If this is just really, really poor judgment on this person's part, it's still probably going to lead to their permanent expulsion from the ballpark,” Kenney told WSCR’s Dan Bernstein and Connor McKnight. “Again, we don't do that lightly. … But in our view, the burden of proof would be on him, and I'm trying to think of a way he could convince us this is not what we all think it is.”
Glanville, in a statement Wednesday, said he learned of the incident after the game and praised the response of both the Cubs and NBC Sports Chicago.
“They have reached out to me and are supportive of my role in the broadcast and continue to have a desire to uphold an inclusive environment at Wrigley Field,” Glanville said. “They have displayed sensitivity as to how the implications of this would affect me as a person of color.”
Glanville indicated he expects to have more to say once the Cubs’ “investigation has run its course.”
Kevin Cross, senior vice president and general manager of NBC Sports Chicago, called the fan’s behavior “reprehensible” and said it “clearly does not represent the great Cubs fans of our city and those around the country.”
Cubs spokesman Julian Green said the team learned of the front-row man’s gesture "well after the incident occurred" from viewers via texts and social media. By the time ballpark security people responded, the individual who made the gesture no longer was in his seat or section.
Green said the Cubs confirmed that the individual who made the gesture is not the season-ticket holder who has that seat.
The ticket was re-sold through StubHub, and the team was looking into the purchaser but did not plan to have more to say about its investigation until it was completed.
“Mobile ticketing gives us a great advantage with an incident like this because we can not only identify a ticket holder — much like a ballpark manifest — we can deny or suppress their ability to gain access in the ballpark in the future,” Green said in an email.
This is not the first racially tinged incident involving the Cubs this year.
Major League Baseball last month started an investigation regarding racist messages sent to reliever Carl Edwards through social media.
In February, emails with racist and Islamaphobic content to and from Joe Ricketts, the billionaire patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs, were published by Splinter News. He and son Tom, the team’s chairman, each issued statements that condemned their bigoted content.
https://www.chicagotribune.com/spor...ist-gesture-wrigley-field-20190508-story.html
