--- title: Sean Spicer Wore His Flag Pin Upside Down and People Freaked description: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer inadvertently wore an American flag pin upside down — and the internet predictably had a field day canonical: https://time.com/4698615/sean-spicer-upside-down-flag-pin/ author: Katie Reilly article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-03-10T20:18:24.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-23T03:47:39.323Z article:section: Politics og:title: Sean Spicer Wore His Flag Pin Upside Down and the Internet Freaked Out og:description: Many drew comparisons to House of Cards og:url: https://time.com/4698615/sean-spicer-upside-down-flag-pin/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e3da619d7a4c2cf/6988bdff0a4a2230869cd418/sean-spicer-flag-pin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 3000 og:image:height: 1688 og:image:alt: White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Holds Briefing At White House og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sean Spicer Wore His Flag Pin Upside Down and the Internet Freaked Out twitter:description: Many drew comparisons to House of Cards twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e3da619d7a4c2cf/6988bdff0a4a2230869cd418/sean-spicer-flag-pin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Sean Spicer Wore His Flag Pin Upside Down and the Internet Freaked Out > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 10, 2017 8:18 PM UTC  White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer speaks during the daily White House press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on March 9, 2017 in Washington, D.C. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer speaks during the daily White House press briefing at the James Brady Press Briefing Room of the White House on March 9, 2017 in Washington, D.C. Alex Wong/Getty Images  by [Katie Reilly](https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/)  ## Katie Reilly Mar 10, 2017 8:18 PM UTC White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer inadvertently wore an American flag pin upside down during a press briefing Friday — and the internet had a field day. Several people pointed out that the pin resembled a [logo for _House of Cards_](https://twitter.com/HouseofCards/status/822466238257340416) — including the show’s executive producer, Dana Brunetti. “His check is in the mail,” Brunetti [tweeted](https://twitter.com/DanaBrunetti/status/840285210633740291). Others pondered the meaning of an upside-down American flag as a symbol of distress. According to the United States flag code, “The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.” Eventually, presidential aide Omarosa Manigault handed Spicer a note, prompting him to fix the pin. “_House of Cards_ promo,” someone in the press briefing [joked](https://twitter.com/cspan/status/840276486837919744). “There’s no promo,” Spicer said. “Now onto your questions.” > [](https://twitter.com/HouseofCards/status/840281091718205441) > [](https://twitter.com/DanaBrunetti/status/840285210633740291) > [](https://twitter.com/darth/status/840273741892337664) > [](https://twitter.com/stephemcneal/status/840273824151138304) > [](https://twitter.com/GIAVOS/status/840272540123697153) > [](https://twitter.com/JamesMSama/status/840282295420477441) > [](https://twitter.com/McJesse/status/840275991142506498) > [](https://twitter.com/majtague/status/840282181914238979) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4698615/sean-spicer-upside-down-flag-pin/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4698615/sean-spicer-upside-down-flag-pin/"},"headline":"Sean Spicer Wore His Flag Pin Upside Down and the Internet Freaked Out","datePublished":"2017-03-10T20:18:24.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-23T03:47:39.323Z","description":"Many drew comparisons to House of Cards","url":"https://time.com/4698615/sean-spicer-upside-down-flag-pin/","keywords":["White House","Television","house of cards","onetime"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e3da619d7a4c2cf/6988bdff0a4a2230869cd418/sean-spicer-flag-pin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Katie Reilly","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/katie-reilly/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt8e3da619d7a4c2cf/6988bdff0a4a2230869cd418/sean-spicer-flag-pin.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Holds Briefing At White House","caption":"White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer Holds Briefing At White House","creditText":"Alex Wong/Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4698615/sean-spicer-upside-down-flag-pin/","name":"Sean Spicer Wore His Flag Pin Upside Down and the Internet Freaked Out"}}]}] ```