Athletes speak out after noose found in Black NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace’s garage
LeBron James and Jimmie Johnson are among the high-profile athletes speaking out in support of Bubba Wallace after a noose was reportedly found in his garage Sunday at Talladega Superspeedway.
NASCAR announced Sunday night it launched an “immediate investigation” into the incident. Wallace, the only Black driver in NASCAR’s top series, said he was “incredibly saddened.”
James, one of the most high-profile voices for social issues in the sports community, said the incident was “sickening.”
“@BubbaWallace my brother! Know you don’t stand alone,” the Los Angeles Lakers superstar tweeted. “I’m right here with you as well as every other athlete. I just want to continue to say how proud I am of you for continuing to take a stand for change here in America and sports. NASCAR I salute you as well.”
Johnson, one of NASCAR’s premier figures with seven career Cup Series championships, also reacted to the incident.
“I can’t begin to fathom the pain this action has caused,” Johnson wrote on Twitter. “I stand with you, @BubbaWallace.”
Kansas City Chiefs safety Tyrann Mathieu told Wallace, “I stand with you champ.” James’ Lakers teammate Kyle Kuzma also responded to Wallace’s statement, telling him it’s “so powerful what you are doing with NASCAR.”
Fellow NASCAR driver Brad Keselowski commented on the news from Talladega, along with retired drivers Michael Waltrip and Kenny Wallace, who is not related to Bubba Wallace.
#IStandWithBubba was one of the top trending topics in the United States Monday morning.
ESPN reporter Marty Smith was passionate about the matter when talking to SportsCenter host Scott Van Pelt.
“You’re not just hurting one or two people, whomever you are,” he said. “You’re hurting a whole lot of people who have made the decision that it is damn sure time to go be better, and it pisses me the hell off. And it pisses everybody else in the sport off who care, who care not only for Bubba, for but every single person that he is standing up for.”
Other media reaction poured in Monday morning.
“If racism was still something that kind of existed in the abstract and you hadn’t yet fully digested it or hadn’t been reckoned with that let this crystallize the damn thing,” ESPN’s Mike Golic Jr. said Monday morning. “I encourage you to make it very real and very personal right now.”
“I hope they find the pathetic people who did this and never let them near the sport again,” said Marty Snider, an NBC Sports reporter.
The outpouring of support for Wallace comes after NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from all events earlier in June. Wallace had called for the removal of the flag, saying that there was “no place” for it in the sport.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 10:06 AM.