Nebraska makes change to mascot Herbie Husker due to white supremacy
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Nebraksa is set to host a big crop of junior day visitors this weekend. (Josh Wolfe/Getty Images)
Nebraska fans will notice a change to Herbie Husker branding. Just look at his hand.
The Cornhuskers mascot for nearly 50 years was previously seen holding up an “OK” sign with his left hand. But Nebraska Athletics made a change. Now, he’s holding up one finger.
The change is a result of white supremacy groups using the OK sign as one of their symbols. The three fingers create a W and the wrist forms a P.
In July 2020, Nebraska licensing and branding director Lonna Henrichs became aware of the grousp’ usage of the OK sign,
according to News Channel Nebraska. She asked an in-house designer to Photoshop Herbie Husker’s hand to hold up the number one and it’s now going to be part of Cornhuskers merchandise. The change hasn’t officially appeared in Nebraska’s brand book yet, but it sounds like that’ll change.
“That hand gesture could, in some circles, represent something that does not represent what Nebraska athletics is about,” Henrichs said, via News Channel Nebraska. “We just didn’t even want to be associated with portraying anything that somebody might think, you know, that it means white power.
“We made that change as quick as we could.”
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