CHICAGO _ The Chicago Cubs are investigating an on-air incident involving an alleged racist gesture behind NBC Sports Chicago reporter Doug Glanville during Tuesday night's Marlins-Cubs telecast at Wrigley Field.
Crane Kenney, the Cubs President of Business Operations, issued a statement three hours after a 5-2 victory over the Marlins.
"An individual seated behind Mr. Glanville used what appears to be an offensive hand gesture that is associated with racism," Kenney said.
"Such ignorant and repulsive behavior is not tolerated at Wrigley Field. We are reviewing the incident thoroughly because no one should be subjected to this type of offensive behavior.
"Any derogatory conduct should be reported immediately to our ballpark staff. Any individual behaving in this manner will not only be removed from the ballpark, but will be permanently banned from Wrigley Field."
Video of the telecast showed the incident occurred at the start of the bottom of the third inning.
A bearded fan in a blue Cubs hooded sweatshirt seated in the first row behind Glanville, who was next to the Cubs dugout, made gestures as Glanville spoke to Cubs play-by-play announcer Len Kasper.
The Cubs fan made an upside-down "OK" sign, which has been appropriated by white supremacists.
Organizations such as the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center have identified this gesture as a hate symbol. But the ADL has warned "caution must be used in evaluating instances of this symbol's use."
Major League Baseball last month started an investigation regarding racist messages sent to reliever Carl Edwards through social media.
In February, emails with racist and Islamaphobic content to and from Joe Ricketts, the billionaire patriarch of the family that owns the Cubs, were published by Splinter News. Both he and son Tom, the team's chairman, issued statements that condemned their bigoted content.
