The cultural impact of a film like Black Panther is hard to properly quantify just yet, but one thing that’s stood out is the prevalence of the Wakanda Forever salute seen in the movie and, later, in Avengers: Infinity War. It’s everywhere — done by little kids in Times Square and at movie theaters and in lots of sporting events to boot.
In March, Arsenal star Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a goal to help the Gunners complete an epic comeback in the second leg of an Europa League match to advance to the next knockout round. To celebrate, Aubameyang got himself a yellow card by grabbing a Black Panther mask and gloves from the touchline, putting it on and doing the Wakanda Forever salute.
The moment was pretty clever, and fans of Terrell Owens or Chad Johnson of the NFL’s peak celebration days could certainly appreciate what Aubameyang was doing here. And it appears that the cast of Black Panther certainly dug it, too.
On Monday, right after Arsenal’s 2-0 win over Newcastle, the team’s Twitter account shared a video of Aubameyang hanging out with Black Panther star Letitia Wright, who does a handshake and Wakanda Forever hand salute with him.
https://twitter.com/Arsenal/status/1112841769736126464
Wright explained that after seeing Aubameyang pull out the mask she had to come check out a match for herself.
https://twitter.com/letitiawright/status/1112849729266860032
What’s hilarious about this is that they clearly talked about doing this in unison, but A clearly forgot what he was supposed to say, which made them have to do it again.
Wright also got an Arsenal jersey out of the deal, which is pretty cool. But what’s interesting here is that she grew up in Tottenham, which is home to the North London side of the same name whose biggest rival is, you guessed it, Arsenal. She’s been quoted as saying she’s a “North London girl for life,” but as of now it’s unclear which side of the Derby she’s on.
