Universal spokesman Tom Schroder said earlier today in an email that what the actor did is unacceptable and confirmed he has been fired.
Her parents, Richard and Tiffiney Zinger, said the photo was taken at a character breakfast at Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando. Tiffiney said she was looking through the photos later and said, “Wait a minute. Why is this sign on my child’s shoulder?”
In the video below, we can see “Gru” waving at the camera and beckoning the little girl to come forward. As she stands beside him, he puts his hand on her shoulder and then slides it forward while forming the upside-down OK sign, which is a white supremacist hate symbol to signify “white power.”
The white supremacist accused of the mass murder of 51 people at two New Zealand mosques was pictured earlier this year using the upside-down OK symbol during a courtroom appearance.
The finger-and-thumb OK sign was officially added by the Anti-Defamation League to their database of hate symbols used by extremists last month.
“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,” Jonathan Greenblatt, Anti-Defamation League CEO said in a statement. ~Alexandra Heilbron