NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace has responded to President Donald Trump's Monday Twitter attack by telling his followers to fight hate with love.
"Always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE! Love over hate every day. Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it's hate from POTUS...love wins," Wallace said in part in a statement on his social media channels Tuesday morning.
Wallace's statement comes a day after Trump falsely tweeted that NASCAR's only Black driver perpetrated a hoax when a noose was found in his team's garage. In his tweet, Trump also claimed that the circuit's decision to ban the Confederate flag from events resulted in low television ratings.
To the next generation and little ones following my foot steps..#LoveWins pic.twitter.com/tVaV3pkdLe
— Bubba Wallace (@BubbaWallace) July 6, 2020
Last month, the FBI conducted an investigation after a member of Wallace's crew found what appeared to be a noose hanging in the team's garage at Talladega Superspeedway prior to the Geico 500. The crew member informed NASCAR, and NASCAR President Steve Phelps later told Wallace about the noose. Wallace said he had not been in the garage since the circuit delayed racing due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The night Wallace was informed about the noose, he released a statement on Twitter saying his team had been the victim of an act of racism. Hours later, NASCAR released a statement saying that a noose had been found in Wallace's garage.
Has @BubbaWallace 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? That & Flag decision has caused lowest ratings EVER!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) July 6, 2020
Two days after the incident was first reported, the FBI determined that the noose was a garage door pull-down rope and that the rope had been fashioned that way since 2019.
NASCAR later said officials checked garages at every track on the circuit and that out of more than 1,000 garages, Wallace's Talladega garage the only pull-down rope that had been tied into a noose.
Wallace has spoken out in favor of the Black Lives Matter movement as protests take place across the country following the death of George Floyd. He's worn a shirt that read "I Can't Breathe" during the national anthem and also driven a car with a Black Lives Matter paint scheme during a race.
