LogFAQs > #974526599

#99: Mr. Rogers (Inadvertently) Flips Off A Crowd Full Of Children

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/9/2/3/AAAG8cAAEnZD.jpg
"I got your Thumbkin right here, buddy!"

Mr. Rogers is, quite obviously, the last person you'd expect to be flipping the bird, but if you've been on the internet for even a short while, you've no doubt seen pictures or .gifs of him doing it, wondering "did he really do that or is that just Photoshop?" Well, I'm here to tell you, he really did it! ...okay, not really. Early in his career, Mr. Rogers was singing the classic nursery rhyme "Where Is Thumbkin?" to a group of kids, and as part of the song, you're supposed to put up a finger to represent each character in the song, with the middle finger representing the "Tall Man". As Mr. Rogers got to that part of the song, he does seem to give a knowing smile and almost laugh, so yes, even though he didn't raise his middle finger with ill intent, he knew EXACTLY what that gesture could be interpreted as. Of course, everybody trusted Mr. Rogers enough to give him the benefit of the doubt, and none of the kids seemed offended, so the gesture was treated as it should've been, as an innocent part of an innocent song. No harm, no foul. Still, we got some absolutely hilarious memes out of it, and 50 years later, anyone who wants to do so can go online and see Mr. Rogers flipping the bird, totally divorced from its context like just about everything else online is these days.