Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr. released a lengthy statement Thursday afternoon about Kyle Larson using a racial slur Sunday during an iRacing event that was being broadcast on Twitch and was heard by anyone on the livestream.
The 26-year-old driver of the No. 43 Richard Petty Motorsports Chevrolet is the only African-American driver in the Cup Series, and he acknowledged he didn’t want to be involved in the controversy surrounding Larson saying the N-word.
But he wrote that there “is a part of my background and culture that feels attacked and hurt, and the other part feels confused and angry.” And he opened his statement by briefly explaining why the N-word is racist.
Wallace wrote:
It’s NOT just a word. There is a ton of negative meaning behind the word. Doesn’t matter if a person uses it in an offensive way or not. The word brings many terrible memories for people and families and brings them back to a time that WE as a community and human race have tried our hardest to get away from.
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) April 16, 2020
Because of the COVID-19 outbreak, the NASCAR season, like the rest of the sports world, has been postponed, so the racing world moved online.
During a race Sunday, Larson appeared to have some technical issues communicating over his radio and said: “You can’t hear me? Hey, [expletive].”
In his statement, Wallace later specifically addressed Larson using the racist slur and explained the communication they’ve had since. He continued:
What Larson said was wrong, whether in private or public. There is no grey area. I saw the incident the night it happened and within 5 minutes Kyle texted me. He called me the next morning as well. Finally I called him back with a FaceTime to talk “face to face,” and we had a good conversation, his apology was sincere. His emotions and pride were shattered. We discussed why he chose to use that language and I shared my thoughts.. [sic] I told him, it was too easy for him to use the word and that he has to do better and get it out of his vocabulary. There is no place for that work in this world. I am not mad at him, and I believe that he, along with most people deserve second chances, and deserve space to improve. I do wish him and his family nothing but the best. And I am more than willing to work with him to address diversity and inclusion in our sport.
In the early fallout this week, Larson was suspended Monday by both NASCAR and Chip Ganassi Racing, which then fired him Tuesday after multiple major sponsors — like McDonald’s and Credit One Bank — pulled their support from the driver specifically. The team said, in part:
“As we said before, the comments that Kyle made were both offensive and unacceptable especially given the values of our organization. As we continued to evaluate the situation with all the relevant parties, it became obvious that this was the only appropriate course of action to take.”
NASCAR is also requiring that Larson — who is of Japanese descent and an alumnus of NASCAR’s Drive for Diversity program — participate in its sensitivity training.
Going into the 2020 season — which only made it through four races before being postponed because of the coronavirus outbreak — Larson was in the final year of his contract with Ganassi. One of the more talented young drivers, he was expected to the the most sought-after upcoming free agent who would likely have his choice of teams.
His future now is even more uncertain, and any return to NASCAR following his indefinite suspension and sensitivity training could largely depend on his ability to secure new sponsors.
Our two cents about all this: Wallace shouldn’t be one of the only drivers speaking out about Larson using a racial slur, and doing so shouldn’t be his responsibility by default as the only African-American driver in the Cup Series. It’s not fair to him, and he shouldn’t be dragged into Larson’s mess simply because NASCAR is a white male dominated sport with a diversity problem.
Where are other prominent figures in NASCAR? On his podcast this week, Dale Earnhardt Jr. condemned Larson for having the slur in his vocabulary, and Joey Logano touched on it when asked in an interview with NBC Sports. But for whatever reason, most high-profile names in the sport have remained silent, and that’s not acceptable either.
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