Steve Bannon has denied making a Nazi salute at a conservative gathering, insisting the gesture was just a wave.
The one-time chief strategist for Donald Trump was onstage at the Conservative Political Action Conference in Maryland on Thursday evening.
During his speech, he extended his right arm in the air, his palm flat, after imploring the crowd to “fight, fight, fight”.
The gesture drew an immediate backlash due to its similarities with the salute linked to the Nazis and their allies.
However, Mr Bannon told a reporter after the event it was “a wave like I did all the time”.
“I do it at the end of all of my speeches to thank the crowd,” he added.
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Earlier the Anti-Defamation League, an antisemitism and human rights watchdog, posted on X: “Steve Bannon’s long and disturbing history of stoking antisemitism and hate, threatening violence, and empowering extremists is well known and well documented by ADL and others.
“We are not surprised, but are concerned about the normalisation of this behaviour.”
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And French far-right National Rally president Jordan Bardella cancelled his scheduled speech at CPAC on Friday in reaction to what he described as “a gesture referring to Nazi ideology”.
Mr Bannon hit out at Mr Bardella for his decision, calling him “unworthy to lead France”.
It comes just weeks after Trump adviser Elon Musk drew criticism after he slapped his hand on his chest and then extended his arm out in a speech at the Capital One Arena in Washington DC celebrating the president’s inauguration.
But extremist monitors and experts said it was unclear what Mr Musk was trying to convey to the crowd.
Mr Musk “made an awkward gesture in a moment of enthusiasm, not a Nazi salute”, the ADL concluded.
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“Frankly, they need better dirty tricks,” he posted on X several hours after he left the stage.
“The ‘everyone is Hitler’ attack is sooo tired.”
