Social media has completely and utterly lost it over a video of The Crown star Claire Foy refusing to sign autographs while entering Manhattan’s Rockefeller Center.
Why? Because she’d been offered a blue pen to sign her name with.
In the clip, the 37-year-old British actress is asked by a fan to sign a piece of paper, but on seeing the colour of the pen she is offered, responds ‘I don’t do blue’.
Naturally, the video has gone viral on TikTok, with viewers questioning what the big deal is about a blue pen.
Well, according to commenters on the post, it all comes down to fraud – or rather, evading it.
“Most celebrities and athletes are taught not to do blue ink cause you can scan and forge the signature on other things and sell them,” wrote one user.
Another added “for computer scanning recognition it’s used to forge” while someone else said “apparently, blue ink allows people to transfer signatures easily to other items which is why they only sign with black ink.”
It’s a concept that is far from new – basketball player Patrick Beverly explained on his podcast ‘The Pat Bev Podcast with Rone’ that he’d previously been warned about signing anything with a blue pen.
He explained: “I was taught, maybe after my third year that you’re not supposed to use a blue pen because they can use that signature and slap it on another jersey and sell that, but you can’t do that with a black pen or grey pen.”
So the next time you go to sign something – or ask someone else to – remember to keep a black pen in your bag!