At the end of a successful run in Olympic halfpipe qualifying, American freeskier Hunter Hess bent his left thumb and forefinger into the shape of an “L” and lifted it to his forehead as Smash Mouth once sang about.
The problem? The “L” was backward, and some of the observers who took notice are taking aim at Hess, who spurred controversy earlier this month for speaking out against the Trump administration.
Hess did his best to embrace the backlash he’s received since his anti-Trump comments.
He said he did the “L” gesture after finishing fifth in the qualifiers as a direct response to the hate he received from Trump, who called him a “real loser.”
“Apparently, I am a loser,” he said. “I am leaning into it.”
Hess crashed in the halfpipe final and finished in 10th place.
Now, some spectators are poking fun at Hess for the backward “L.”
One keyboard warrior said, “He can’t even get his L the right way around.”
Another added, “Apparently the genius doesn’t know that the letter ‘L’ faces the other direction.”
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Hess previously admitted that he’s experienced the “hardest two weeks of his life.”
“I worked so hard to be here,” Hess said. “I sacrificed my entire life to make this moment happen. I’m not going to let controversy like that get in my way. I love the United States of America. I cannot say that enough,” he said. “In my original statement, I felt like I said that, but apparently people didn’t take it that way. I’m so happy to be here, so happy to represent Team USA and ride as much as I can.
“It was pretty distracting. I had a week that was pretty challenging. Luckily, my family was there to support me and help me get through it. There was a lot of noise and I’ve never been subject to that type of criticism. But with my family’s help, I was able to get through it. And skiing has saved my life, time and time again, and it seems to have done so again.”
Hess is a two-time X Games medalist and first-time Olympian.