NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace said people who suggested an incident where a noose-shaped rope was left in his garage stall was staged are motivated by hate.
“It’s simple-minded people like that, the ones that are afraid of change, they use everything in their power to defend what they stand up for … instead of trying to listen and understand what’s going on,” Wallace said on June 22 during an interview on ABC’s The View.
Wallace added his feelings toward fans who do not support his advocacy for the Black Lives Matter movement during an interview this week with Fox Nation.
“You don’t give yourself enough time to understand, to educate yourself,” said Wallace of fans who criticized him. “You quickly just jump to a conclusion.”
He added that he wasn’t given forgiveness from fans following the controversy over the noose-shaped rope found in his garage.
“You’re never going to get that from them. They will always kind of carry that chip on their shoulder and do everything to knock you off your pedestal,” Wallace said, referring again to fans as “simple-minded.” “So their job is to always deliver hate. Immediately, to deliver hate, before the facts are even given. So that’s something I’ve learned a long time ago.”
Wallace, the league’s only black driver, found himself at the center of controversy last month after a rope used as a garage door pull was fashioned into a noose and found in his car stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Racing legend Richard Petty, who owns a car Wallace drives, called the incident a “despicable” act of racism and hatred.
An FBI investigation was launched and NASCAR condemned the situation as an act of hate. The FBI later found Wallace was not the victim of a hate crime and determined he was not targeted during the incident.
Two days after the noose-shaped rope was found in Wallace’s garage stall, he was joined by all 39 other drivers and their crews in a march down pit road in a moment of solidarity.
President Trump weighed in on the controversy on Monday, calling the noose controversy “a hoax” and suggesting Wallace apologize.
“You’re not going to make everybody happy. I went through a lot of stress of trying to make everybody happy, and one wrong move would blow up and you quickly realize that you’ll never make everybody happy,” Wallace said during the interview, which was conducted before Trump’s remarks. “And so, there’s no need in wasting your time or energy or efforts on that.”
Wallace had also called for the Confederate flag to be banned from NASCAR races and events, an action the league eventually took.
