Last Updated on February 17, 2022
NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace, who has been at the center of a media-driven hate hoax regarding a garage pulldown rope that was reported as a racist “noose,” made comments in an ESPN interview Wednesday about wanting to “go down there [to Georgia] and retaliate” for the the death of Ahmaud Arbery.
Wallace said he decided against traveling to Georgia and retaliating against unspecified persons because he knew “hate doesn’t win, love wins.”
In the interview, Wallace was asked by left-wing agitator and occasional sports commentator Max Kellerman about what spurred his decision to become a political activist for Black Lives Matter.
“Well Max, if you had seen the – if you had been sitting here in this chair and seen the Ahmaud Arbery video, and if it shook you the way it shook me, and knowing that I had a – I wanted to make change, I wanted to go down there and retaliate for that family and for that man, but I knew hate doesn’t win, love wins, and it’s about spreading the right message,” Wallace said.
Wallace went on to allude that he is a hero of the civil rights movement, who has left a “legacy,” even if he is “taken out” by unspecified persons.
The bizarre interview can be seen below.
Wallace’s recent prominence in the media occurred after a hate hoax involving a garage pulldown rope that a member of his team decided was a noose.
In 2017, Wallace told NASCAR fans, “you’re not going to stop hearing about the black driver,” and that they would have “embrace it, accept it, and enjoy the journey.”
Bubba Wallace, the driver who has been mocked online for believing a garage door pull was a racist “noose,” even doubling down on the story Tuesday night after the hoax was debunked by the FBI, had previously promised NASCAR fans “you’re not gonna stop hearing about ‘the black driver’ for years.”
Wallace’s statement, which was made on Twitter in 2017, read “There is only 1 driver from an African American background at the top level of our sport..I am the 1. You’re not gonna stop hearing about “the black driver” for years. Embrace it, accept it and enjoy the journey..”
There is only 1 driver from an African American background at the top level of our sport..I am the 1. You're not gonna stop hearing about "the black driver" for years. Embrace it, accept it and enjoy the journey..
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) November 8, 2017
At the time – and even in recent months – it was unclear what Wallace meant, since he has had a notably mediocre career and has never won a NASCAR Cup Series race.
Some have interpreted Wallace’s message as hinting towards his eventual rise to prominence as a Black Lives Matter political activist.
