A Universal Studios employee has been fired for pulling a white power 'OK' sign while posing with a black autistic seven-year-old girl for a photograph.

Tiffiney and Richard Zinger took their daughter and son to Orlando from Colorado, where they live, in March for a family trip.

One morning, they visited a hotel where characters from Despicable Me posed for children at a breakfast event.

They excitedly took their daughter, who is now seven, and son because they wanted them to 'meet the minions,' they said.

The two children posed for a photograph with two of the characters there but when the family reviewed the image months later, they noticed that the Gru character standing behind their daughter performed the hate gesture while resting his hand on her shoulder.

The employee has not been named. In the photograph, the couple's son appears to be making the same symbol with his hand. It is unclear why.

Tiffiney and Richard Zinger shared this photograph showing their seven-year-old daughter posing with a character from Despicable Me in March at Universal Studios. They did not realize at the time that he was making the white supremacist symbol. The family offered no explanation for why their two-year-old son also appeared to be making the gesture

The subtle 'OK' symbol is commonly used by white supremacists. It represents white power and they are known to slip it into photographs

The 'OK' symbol, as it is known, is a popular among white supremacists.

Shocked, the family watched video footage taken of the same incident to be sure it was not a mistake.

It showed the Gru character gesturing for their daughter to come and stand by his side and then him deliberately forming the sign with his hands.

The Zingers contacted Universal World and the employee who was in the suit has now been fired.

'It’s more than the "OK" sign. A lot of people don’t understand what that sign means,' Richard Zinger told USA Today.

'I've been emotionally distraught about it. I'm still pretty upset that someone felt they needed to do this to children.

'It can cause emotional stress on my child and her development,' Tiffiney said.

She added that while the family was not interested in financial compensation, they have hired a lawyer because they wanted someone to be held accountable.

After weeks of trying to resolve the family's grievance by giving them tickets to the resort, Universal fired the employee this week.

'We never want our guests to experience what this family did. This is not acceptable and we are sorry – and we are taking steps to make sure nothing like this happens again.

'We can’t discuss specifics about this incident, but we can confirm that the actor no longer works here. We remain in contact with the family and will work with them privately to make this right,' a spokesman said.

The symbol was among those classified as hate gestures by the Anti Defamation League earlier this year.

Experts say white supremacists like to 'sneak' them into photos or contexts where they do not belong without anyone noticing.