D.C. United fires athletic trainer for discriminatory hand gesture
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D.C. United fired athletic trainer Reade Whitney after he displayed a discriminatory hand gesture in a staff photo taken at an MLS All-Star Game training session, a person familiar with the decision said Friday. Wp Get the full experience. Choose your plan ArrowRight The person spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not permitted to publicly discuss the matter. United announced the firing in a statement but did not name the trainer.
“D.C. United have terminated the employment of the club’s athletic trainer effective immediately,” the statement read. “This termination is the result of an internal review following the discovery of a discriminatory hand gesture made by the individual that surfaced in a photograph published across social media platforms on July 20, 2023. There is no place for racism, homophobia, misogyny, or discrimination of any kind in our sport and world and D.C. United do not tolerate any acts of this nature.”
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The MLS all-stars trained on the National Mall on Tuesday, the day before the All-Star Game, and players and staff posed for photos with the Washington Monument as a backdrop after the session. In the staff photo, Whitney was seated in the front row and displayed a gesture with one hand while holding his wrist with his other hand.
The gesture — touching his thumb and index finger with the other three fingers held outstretched — historically has been used as a symbol that means “okay,” but since 2017, the gesture has increasingly been adopted by white supremacists and the far right. In 2019, the gesture was listed as a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League.
According to his LinkedIn profile, Whitney was hired by United as an assistant athletic trainer in July 2021 and promoted to head athletic trainer in January 2022. He previously worked for three other MLS clubs: CF Montréal, the Chicago Fire and FC Dallas.
Whitney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Thomas Floyd contributed to this report.
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Source: The Washington Post
