In news that will shock all of you, NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace feels he is being unfairly judged. And, if you’re a NASCAR fan or media member, it’s your fault.
The driver, who has become a lightning rod of controversy over the years, beginning with his unsubstantiated claim that someone fashioned a “noose” and left it in his garage as a racial attack against him, now says that fans blew his middle finger episode of a few weeks ago out of proportion because they treat him differently than other drivers.
@BubbaWallace talks about his tendency for flipping the bird and why he plans to stop doing it. pic.twitter.com/Gtq1aR3t5w
— Kyle Dalton (@kdsportswriter) June 10, 2023
For those of you who need a reminder of the incident Wallace is referencing, the social justice warrior turned NASCAR heel gave the middle finger last month during a live interview with Fox Sports.
Real professional there @BubbaWallace @23XIRacing flipping the bird at the start of his post race interview. No class man. #NASCAR @NASCAR @NASCARONFOX pic.twitter.com/bg7fiIrHol
— Charlie Waffles (@CWaffles) May 22, 2023
And that’s really the story, isn’t it? Wallace references other drivers giving each other the middle finger after wrecks. Which, if that’s all Wallace did, wouldn’t have been that big of a deal.
But he didn’t do that.
He gave the bird to the camera during a live interview on national television. That’s not a “heat of the moment” indiscretion after a vehicular accident. That’s something he had time to think about. He also did it in the direction of the camera, which would naturally lead people to believe he was flipping off the audience. Now, as it turns out, Wallace was playfully giving the bird to a friend.
But still, you want to know why people might treat a middle finger aimed at them in an interview differently than one aimed at a driver after a wreck. There it is. But this is Wallace’s thing now. He is a heel. And honestly, he is much more likable in this role than he was as a social justice warrior. I actually hope he doesn’t change.