Call of Duty: Modern Warfare & Warzone secretly removed one of the most popular emotes in the game – the O.K. gesture. They are likely responding to the ongoing protests in the USA, as this gesture can also mean entirely different things that are contrary to the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
What gesture is it? The okay gesture involves pressing the thumb and index finger together at the tips to form a circle while the other fingers are held out. This signals that something is good or simply “Everything is O.K.!”.
However, this gesture, which is considered harmless by many, also has a dark side. Due to its other meaning, the popular emote disappeared from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and the Battle Royale Warzone, and many players are asking: Why is that?
MeinMMO has investigated the background and clarifies why an otherwise positive emote has now been banned with the mid-season update.
4chan turns innocent gesture into a racist symbol
Why was the gesture removed? The developers at Infinity Ward have not yet provided an official statement regarding the removal of the gesture. However, the background seems clear. The symbol is used by some groups as an expression of racism and white supremacy.
The “Anti-Defamation League” has been monitoring the development of the gesture for several years and placed the hand sign on their list of “hate symbols” in September 2019, categorized as a “Racist Hand Sign”. As background, the non-governmental organization (NGO) states on one of their websites:
In 2017, the “O.K.” hand gesture took on a new and different meaning. Thanks to a “hoax” by members of the website 4chan, who falsely promoted the gesture as a hate symbol claiming it represented the letters “WP” for “White Power”.
The “O.K.” gesture hoax was merely the latest in a series of similar 4chan pranks that reinterpreted various harmless symbols. In these pranks, the hoaxers hoped that the media and liberals would overreact and condemn the gesture as a sign of “white power” due to its new image.
In the case of the “O.K.” gesture, the prank was so successful that the symbol became a popular trolling tactic among right-wing individuals, who often posted pictures of themselves on social media showing the “O.K.” gesture.
Ironically, some white ideological racists also adopted this trolling tactic, giving real credibility to those who called the trolling gesture racist.
Until [the ban in] 2019, some white racists seemed to have abandoned the ironic/satirical intent behind the original trolling campaign and used the symbol as a sincere expression of white supremacy.
For example, the Australian white racist Brenton Tarrant used the symbol during an appearance in court shortly after his arrest for the alleged murder of 50 people during a massacre at mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand.
Anti-Defamation League (translated) – Source: ADL website
CoD has made efforts since the launch of the “Black Lives Matter” movement to handle the topic sensitively and even postponed the start of Season 4 due to the ongoing protests in the USA for more rights for minorities, especially the black population.
The removal of the gesture is now likely another exclamation mark that the developers want to set as a sign of solidarity with the movement.
What can the O.K. sign represent? The possible meanings of the sign are manifold and often culturally determined (via Wikipedia):
- In ancient Greece, the symbol represented lips, as well as love and affection for someone else
- In ancient Rome, the gesture signaled agreement, being quite close to today’s okay interpretation. It was also part of rhetoric at the time and used to emphasize certain expressions in speeches
- In Buddhist and Hindu regions, the gesture can stand for “inner perfection”
- In France, the gesture can be interpreted positively or negatively, depending for example on the user’s body language
Call of Duty decided to remove the gesture likely due to the changed meaning over the past years. The topic of racism still plays a significant role in the lives of many people around the world. Even a top streamer on Twitch did not use a cam for a long time due to his skin color.
