Hook made the gesture during a debate about cycling on Nolan Live on BBC Northern Ireland.
George Hook has posted his first tweet in over two months after he was seen to make a fascist gesture in an appearance on Nolan Live on BBC Northern Ireland.
Hook was on the show to talk about the behaviour of cyclists on the roads after a report by bike charity Sustrans revealed large support for building more dedicated cycling lanes in Belfast.
Hook, who was suspended from his role as a Newstalk presenter in September following comments made about a rape case in the UK, has been outspoken in his views on cyclists in the past and claimed on the show that “cyclists want the road, the cycle lane and the pavement, yet they make no contribution whatsoever to their benefit.
“I’m now in constant terror that a cyclist will come whizzing along a footpath and knock me down,” Hook said.
He also claimed that “in every urban area in Ireland, cyclists are travelling at twice the speed of a motor car”.
Later in the debate, a member of the audience, journalist Yvette Shapiro, spoke of the abuse she received after posting a tweet describing cyclists as “lycra warriors pursuing their hobby on everyone else’s time” in August of this year.
Driving anywhere on a summer Sunday is a pain. Roads clogged with lycra warriors pursuing their hobby on everybody else's time 🚴 😤 pic.twitter.com/8jjUjVEBon
— Yvette Shapiro (@yvetteshapiro) August 27, 2017
Shapiro claimed she was called arrogant, stupid, entitled, disrespectful and mentally ill as a result.
Since I tweeted yesterday about behaviour of some cyclists, I've been called arrogant, stupid, entitled, disrespectful & mentally ill.
— Yvette Shapiro (@yvetteshapiro) August 28, 2017
Shortly after Shapiro’s comments, author and broadcaster Malachi O’Doherty, who was taking a pro-cycling side, suggested that there was a presumption that cyclists are some form of “uniformed cult”.
Hook responded by saying that “they (cyclists) used to wear brown shirts, sing the Horst Wessel song and have a sign (at which point Hook made the gesture that can be seen in the main image above)”.
Host Stephen Nolan instantly interjected, saying: “No, no, no, no. Not acceptable. Not acceptable. Not funny.”
Hook posted the following tweet on Thursday afternoon, his first post on Twitter since September 9.
The comment was made in response to hate speech against a member of the audience – that was totally lost in a four minute segment
— George Hook (@ghook) November 16, 2017
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
