That's not an obscene gesture, that's a campaign promise!

August 20, 2007 12:12 PM

Can you help me find the picture of Marion Barry giving the finger?

If I remember the incident correctly, about a year or two before his 1990 arrest, Marion Barry had something of an altercation with a Washington Post cameraman (this may have been at the same time as his infamous "I'm a night owl" quote in front of the Camelot on 14th St.)

As a result of this incident, the next morning The Washington Post ran a large picture of Hizzoner flipping the bird. I believe it was on the front page, but it may have been on the front of the Metro section.

Can you help me find this picture? If not, can you help me find out more about this incident?

posted by toxic to Grab Bag (2 answers total)

It was in the Washington Times, not the Post, I believe. It was front page above the fold but it was a screen cap of video, not a still photo. I loved the picture so much, I had it up in my locker when I was in high school in DC.
posted by mzurer at 2:23 PM on August 20, 2007

I find an article from the Post's September 19, 1989 Metro section entitled "Barry Gesture Provokes Call to Drop Out of Race." The gesture was "flashed to hecklers at the Adams-Morgan Day Festival," and broadcast on WRC-TV 4 as well. Unfortunately the news database I'm using (newsbank) doesn't have the photo or a scan of the article, but it appears to have been credited to Joe Neil of WRC-TV if that helps.
posted by mumkin at 2:32 PM on August 20, 2007