President Donald Trump slammed NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace in a tweet on Monday over claims last month that a noose was left in his car stall at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama.
"Has Bubba Wallace apologized to all of those great NASCAR drivers & officials who came to his aid, stood by his side, & were willing to sacrifice everything for him, only to find out that the whole thing was just another HOAX?” the president tweeted. “That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!"
An investigation of the incident by federal authorities found that the noose-like rope was instead a garage door pull that had been there since at least October 2019 and thus was not intended for Wallace, the only black driver in NASCAR, al.com reported.
Suspicions that it was intended for him were increased because just a few weeks earlier Wallace had successfully convinced NASCAR to ban the display of the Confederate flag at all of its events and properties.
Following the conclusion of the probe, Wallace expressed relief that is was not a hate crime, saying in a statement “It’s been an emotional few days. First off, I want to say how relieved I am that the investigation revealed that this wasn’t what we feared it was. I want to thank my team, NASCAR and the FBI for acting swiftly and treating this as a real threat. I think we’ll gladly take a little embarrassment over what the alternatives could have been."
But NASCAR has not been experiencing its “lowest ratings EVER!” as Trump claimed.
NASCAR viewership on the Fox networks is up 8 percent since returning from its coronavirus-related hiatus on May 17, reports The Charlotte Observer, citing data from Fox Sports Network.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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