NASCAR’s Bubba Wallace says he isn’t “shocked” that people are calling the noose that was found in his garage a “hoax.”
A noose was discovered in the garage assigned to Wallace, the only Black NASCAR driver, less than two weeks after he called for the removal of Confederate flags from racetracks. The FBI launched an investigation into what NASCAR called a “heinous act,” and on Tuesday, announced “no federal crime was committed” because the noose had allegedly been tied “as early as October 2019.”
As soon as the FBI report was posted, newscasters, media outlets, YouTubers social media influencers, and more began spewing hateful messages towards Wallace and claimed the driver made up the story to promote his own beliefs. Since then, a variety of hashtags have been created including, #fakenoose, #BubbaSmollett, #BubbaWallaceHoax, #BubbaHoax.
Photo of the garage pull rope tied like a noose from the Bubba Wallace garage Sunday: #nascar @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/IrsQ1PUbci
— Bob Pockrass (@bobpockrass) June 25, 2020
In addition, former MLB star Curt Schilling tweeted, “It was all a lie,” and even compared Wallace’s ordeal to Jussie Smollett. There was, in fact, a noose found in Wallace’s garage; however, the case was dropped because it was found back in 2019, which would mean the noose would have not been used to target Wallace. But Wallace says that the time doesn’t make the crime any less offensive. “From the evidence that we have and I have, it’s a straight-up noose. . . It was a noose that was—whether tied in 2019 or whenever it was a noose. It wasn’t directed at me, but somebody tied it,” said Wallace. “I’ve been racing all my life. We’ve raced out of hundreds of garages that never had garage pulls like that.”
When it comes to naysayers and critics, Wallace says the hate will always be there. “The backlash will always be there. It doesn’t matter if we provide 100 percent facts and evidence, photo evidence, people are gonna photoshop it to make me look like the bad person at the end of the day. I will always have haters. I will always have motivators to go out there and dethrone me from the pedestal that I am on,” said Wallace. “This will not break me. None of the allegations of being a hoax will break me or tear me down,” he said. “It will piss me off, absolutely. But, that only fuels the competitive drive in me to shut everybody up.”
