FIFA monitor calls for VAR official's removal over suspected white power gesture

FIFA's discrimination monitor, Fare, has called for a video review official to be removed from the World Cup after he appeared to make a hand gesture resembling a white supremacist sign during a broadcast. The official, Shaun Evans from Australia, made an 'OK' symbol with his right hand during the broadcast of Germany's opening game against Curaçao. The gesture, with the thumb and forefinger forming a circle and the other fingers outstretched, was designated a hate symbol by the Anti-Defamation League in 2019, often used in global far-right circles. Fare stated that the gesture was 'neo-nazi' and that the official should have no further role in the tournament. It is unclear if Evans was making a political statement or engaging in a prank known as the 'gotcha' or 'circle game'.

Separately, Ulises Fernando Bernal Miramontes, former president of the College of Geomatics and Topographic Surveying Engineers of Jalisco, was removed from his post after a video surfaced showing him making a racist 'slant-eye' gesture at South Korean influencer Yoon Su-jin during a World Cup match. The gesture is widely considered a racist stereotype targeting people of East Asian descent. Bernal issued a public apology for his actions.