MAGA Arizona Senatorial candidate Kari Lake attended a college basketball game with her husband Jeff and friends on Thursday.
When Lake shared the photo below, the Trump-endorsed candidate who has refused to admit losing the 2022 gubernatorial election to Democratic Governor Katie Hobbs wrote: “Enjoying some GCU Basketball with my hubby & friends.” GCU came out victorious and Lake is not expected to contest the result.
During the game, Lake was captured in photos making a controversial hand gesture, which in the sporting context was not controversial at all. Yet Lake has been chastised by several people on social media for the move as she, her husband and friends have their hands raised with their index and pinkie fingers lifted. It is a gesture of support for the team, nicknamed the Antelopes a.k.a. the Lopes. The fingers are to symbolize Antelope horns.
But in the age of optics and a propensity to take things out of context, Lake is being accused online of “worshiping Satan” and “throwing up the cabals devil worship symbol.”
[NOTE: The gesture or symbol, outside its Antelopes association, is widely interpreted as flashing the “devil’s horns” and is a staple of criminal gang subculture and the heavy metal music scene.]
And one observer remarked: “College or not, the hand gesture will come back to haunt her. Not a good look.”
Staying groovy, 17-1 🕺🪩 #LopesUp pic.twitter.com/g1FNSRMMnf
— GCU Lopes (@GCU_Lopes) January 19, 2024
GCU is Grand Canyon University, a private for-profit Christian university in Phoenix, Arizona. Based on student enrollment (20,000 attending and 70,000 online), GCU claims to be the largest Christian university in the world. Annual tuition: $17,800. (And Lake wants to make sure students pay up: she has publicly opposed recent federal action to provide relief for student loan borrowers.]
Democrats like @JoeBiden & @katiehobbs will rob you blind and expect you to thank them for it. https://t.co/mUYaeYpD9E
— Kari Lake War Room (@KariLakeWarRoom) August 24, 2022
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