Stephen was just trying to support a good cause (Picture: Twitter/ @stephenfry)

Stephen Fry has been accused of using an alt-right and White Power symbol while promoting Mental Health Awareness Week.

Why? Because 2019, and also, Twitter.

The 61-year-old told followers he would not allow the ‘OK’ gesture to be co-opted by the alt-right and white supremacists, after some people urged him not to use it.

As Mental Health Awareness Week kicks off, Stephen showed his support for London’s AOK Kitchen working with Mind by sharing a photo of himself holding up the OK gesture.


He tweeted: ‘Are you A.O.K? Our friends @aok.kitchen are supporting @MindCharity this Mental Health Awareness Week, 13th – 19th May. Follow them to find out more. 👌#mentalhealthawarenessweek.’

The symbol has been used in the alt-right and white supremacist communities, including Brenton Tarrant (Picture: Mark Mitchell/NZ Herald/Backgrid / BACKGRID)

But while Stephen was just trying to raise awareness and drum up support by sharing the universally recognisable OK symbol, others piped up to claim it was a sign of the alt-right.



One person wrote: ‘Stephen and friends – You might want to be super careful using this symbol if you don’t want to be confused with white supremacist creeps. It’s an unfortunate fact of life that even the kindest of intentions can be taken out of context.’

Another replied: ‘Are you aware that this hand symbol can be misinterpreted as support for white supremacy?’, while one reply said:

‘Didn’t have you down as part of the alt-right.’

The miscommunication was so strong that Stephen followed up his post with a message stating no, he wasn’t using a white supremacist symbol.

The former QI host wrote: ‘PS: I really will not allow the simple 👌 gesture to belong to the moronic dogwhistling catfishing foghorning frogmarching pigsticking d***waving few who attempt to appropriate it for their own fatuous fantasies.’

It’s believed the ‘OK’ gesture began to be associated with the alt-right via a meme, after 4chan users were instructed to claim that the symbol was linked to the alt-right and white supremacy in 2017.

However, in recent months, it has been used by a number of people showing support for white supremacist ideology – in March 2019, alleged Christchurch shooter Brenton Tarrant flashed the inverted OK symbol at cameras during his arraignment in New Zealand.

But we’re 100% sure Stephen Fry was just saying ‘OK’.

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