He was supported by his fellow NASCAR drivers after someone else reported that they'd found a noose hanging in his garage, but somehow Bubba Wallace is being criticized for the scandal that followed. An investigation by the FBI concluded that Bubba Wallace wasn't the victim of a hate crime, and while he wasn't the person to find the noose nor was he the person to report it to authorities, he's been blamed for the fallout. Former MLB pitcher Curt Schilling reportedly deactivated his Twitter after calling the lone Black NASCAR drive "Jussie 2.0," after Jussie Smollett, but he wasn't the only person to peg Wallace with such accusations.
Bubba Wallace spoke with Don Lemon for CNN following the FBI's investigation and defended his character. "The image that I have and I have seen of what was hanging in my garage is not a garage pull, he said. "I've been racing all my life, we've raced out of hundreds of garages that never had garage pulls like that. It was a noose, whether tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose."
"It wasn't directed at me but somebody tied a noose. That's what I'm saying," Bubba Wallace added. "This will not break me. None of the allegations of being a hoax will break me or tear me down. It will piss me off, absolutely. But, that only fuels the competitive drive in me to shut everybody up."
Later, Wallace tweeted, "Integrity..something nobody will ever be able to take away from me. God will always test us to show how strong we truly are. Still standing proud and still smiling." Watch his interview with Don Lemon below.
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