Bubba Wallace, a popular NASCAR driver, recently confessed that he is super stoked to tick off MAGA supporters who are fans of his sport as he debuts his new car, which is being sponsored by vaccine provider Kroger Health and the COVID-19 vaccine Nuvaxovid. Wallace already managed to stir up controversy on the matter before even driving the car in an official event.
Wallace sat down for an interview with The Athletic — owned by the New York Times — where he stated that his vax-pushing sponsors are “feeding right into” individuals who are not comfortable with COVID vaccines. He then said that he is “Just pissing off the keyboard warriors. Man, why not, right? Here we are.” He then provided an explanation for why he took on those particular sponsors.
“The Kroger Health side of things: get your flu shot. People are going to lose their minds over the COVID-19 stuff, but for us it’s about building opportunities for people to be more educated on getting their flu shots, and then taking care of their health and moving forward with that,” he told The Athletic. “Everyone else can make their own in lines, but we’re all in it together to help everybody’s health.”
With all of the bluster and ego, one would think Wallace had a rather stellar racing career, but he’s only brought home three victories and a handful of top-10 finishes. His biggest claim to fame is verbally attacking white people and for his absurd 2019 claim that someone hung a noose in his garage at Talladega. The accusation got the attention of the FBI who investigated the incident.
According to Breitbart News, the bureau later discovered that there was no “noose” and the rope Wallace claimed was the noose was actually just the loop for the pull rope on the garage door of his workshop. The FBI officially determined that no one hung a noose in there as a slur against Wallace. President Donald Trump weighed in on the incident at the time, ripping into Wallace for his behavior.
“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!” Trump wrote on Truth Social at the time, according to the Daily Mail.
“Your words and actions will always be held to a higher standard than others. You have to be prepared for that,” Wallace said in response to being called out by the president. “You don’t learn these things in school. You learn them from trials and tribulations, the ups and downs this crazy world provides. You will always have people testing you. Seeing if they can knock you off your pedestal. I encourage you to keep your head held high and walk proudly on the path you have chosen.”
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“Never let anybody tell you [you] can’t do something! God put us all here for a reason. Find that reason and be proud of it and work your tails off every day towards it! All the haters are doing is elevating your voice and platform to much greater heights! Last thing, always deal with the hate being thrown at you with LOVE!” the NASCAR driver continued. “Love over hate every day. Love should come naturally as people are TAUGHT to hate. Even when it’s HATE from the POTUS. Love wins.”