No, The Cubs' Albert Almora Jr. Did Not In Fact Flip Off President Trump

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Jun 30, 2017 6:00PM

Getty Images / Photo: Mark Wilson

It was the bird heard 'round the world—except that it apparently wasn't intentional, if it was there at all.

A minor controversy—roughly about the size of a middle finger—started brewing when the champion Chicago Cubs visited the White House on Wednesday (well, some of them). The brouhaha? Did Albert Almora Jr.actually subtly flip the bird to the President of the United States? Or were we all maybe just squinting a little to hard and reading a little too closely?

The "evidence," as captured by Sun-Times reporter Lynn Sweet, and another zoom-in for closer inspection:

As Sweet noted in her Garrison-esque breakdown, Almora's index finger was in fact out of pocket as well. And the Cubs outfielder subsequently gave some quotes to help clear the air.

"Guys were giving me a hard time about it, but I pointed out the second finger," Almora said, via CSN Chicago. "We’re all good. Obviously, it’s unfortunate. I’m getting ready to take a picture and I’m posing there. But you guys know that I would never do that to the president of the United States. I respect everybody. It is what it is. We laugh about it now, but there’s definitely two fingers out there."

And with that, bird-gate did fly away forever.

[H/T Deadspin]