Major league soccer team fires trainer for making 'discriminatory hand gesture' in photo

A major league soccer team fired its trainer for making a "discriminatory hand gesture" in a photograph that was posted on social media last week.

What are the details?

D.C. United fired athletic trainer Reade Whitney after he made the gesture in a staff photo taken at an MLS All-Star Game training session, the Washington Post reported, citing an individual familiar with the decision.

The individual spoke Friday on the condition of anonymity because commenting publicly about the matter wasn't permitted, the paper said, adding that the team announced the firing in a statement but didn't name the trainer.

“D.C. United have terminated the employment of the club’s athletic trainer effective immediately,” the statement read, according to the Post. “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.”

More from the paper:

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.

Whitney did not immediately respond to a request for comment, the Post reported.

The paper said Whitney's LinkedIn profile indicates D.C. United hired him as an assistant athletic trainer in July 2021 and promoted him to head athletic trainer in January 2022. Whitney previously worked for MLS clubs CF Montréal, the Chicago Fire, and FC Dallas, the Post added.

Anything else?

D.C. United and MLS noted late Friday that players Taxi Fountas and Nigel Robertha were placed on paid administrative leave while the league investigates possible policy violations, the Associated Press reported, adding that there was no word on whether the investigation has anything to do with Whitney’s firing.

The players will be away from the team during the investigation, the AP said.

“Placement on paid administrative leave is not a disciplinary measure,” the MLS statement said, the outlet noted.

The league last year investigated an allegation that Fountas used racially abusive language toward Miami defender Aimé Mabika during a match, the AP said, adding that MLS said it found the allegation credible but had no corroborating evidence, and Fountas wasn't disciplined.

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