NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace is of the opinion that Kyle Larson needs to be forgiven for the racial slur he used in an online competition.
Thinking that he lost communication with the spotter, Larson did a mic check and uttered “You can’t hear me?” followed by the N-word. For the incident, Larson was subsequently fired from his racing team.
GET YOUR CUSTOM NASCAR PHONE CASE HERE
According to Bubba Wallace, Kyle Larson aplogized to him over a facetime session. Releasing a statement on Friday, Wallace explained that while Larson is wrong for his deed, his apology was “sincere” and he should be forgiven for the incident.
What Larson said was wrong, whether in private or public. There is no grey area.
It’s NOT just a word. There is a ton of negative meaning behind the word. Doesn’t matter if a person uses it in an offensive way or not. The word brings many terrible memories for people and families and brings them back to a time that WE as a community and human race have tried our hardest to get away from.
NASCAR: ‘Previously unreported’ Kyle Larson development emerges
Here is the public apology issued by Larson.
I wasn’t raised that way and it’s just an awful thing to say. I feel very sorry for my family, my friends, my partners, the NASCAR community and especially the African-American community. I understand the damage is probably unrepairable and I own up to that. I just want to let you all know how sorry I am and I hope everybody is staying safe during these crazy times.
It is a sad day when a word said in anger not against an individual or group can cause him to lose his livelihood. At the same time you can hear that word thousands of times in Black Rap and in Black groups of men. It is also sad that we have Hollywood, Network reporters, late night talk show stars caking our President and his family horrible things and calling for his death. Let’s not forget a member of our political hierarchy called the President a motherf——-. I certainly do not condone Kyles statement but I feel Political Correctness is out of control and is an easy way for division and hatred to continue.
Amen!
Amen! Think of all “names” Native Americans have been and still called. Those names are FINE to use…..
Amen to that Also the names they call Mexican even the president make racist comments but nothing happens to him there is still people that support him every nationality has remarks made about them so everyone needs to stop this shit.
Trump 2020
What has the president said raciest
wtf are you talking about .. Trump is not racist .. YOU ARE!
I think he should get another chance
It is about time!! Life is to short. U should put your brain in gear before your mouth every one needs a second chance.
This went to far 1 mistake and lose your job it was wrong but the punishment was also wrong
In the heat of the moment you forget that other people can hear what you say. Accept his apology and move on.
I agree with you. Although black men do use it in a derogatory manner when describing “bad” black people. Our black fresh air kids explained this to us one night after they had used it describing the people down the street from them. However, we seem to forget the year Dale Jr said “shit” during an interview after a race and the penalty cost him a championship. I do think the penalty involved here is a little over the top but on the other hand sponsors jumped the ship because they don’t want the publicity. There is no happy answer here, do nothing and 50% will be happy, fire him and the other 50% will be happy, but no one will agree.
Even a convicted murderer gets a second chance. It’s called parole!!!
Yeah some murderers get the death penalty! So maybe let’s give him a 20 year suspension, and then he can get parole.
Agreed
I say he definitely deserves a second chance I can’t even believe nascar would even do a thing like this .just remember nascar if it wasn’t for the drivers and the fans you up in corporate wouldn’t have a job and making millions of dollars.
The only reason the sponsors jumped ship was because they didnt need the extra publicity they were already receiving. McDonalds is in the limelight already for refusing service to black men and another one of their locations wont allow black people in the store at all. So they pulled just so they can say this is not our values. If Larson would have been a black man there would have been no issue!
Ron Herrmann all i have to say that word was not said while he was upset, he seems to have said that word many times, i can tell you also have, look what you wrote black rap black group, you could have easy say rap music or african American… a black person saying that word does not have the same power of a Caucasian saying it, of course you can not understand that.
Kyle is not Caucasian. Everyone can make a mistake. You did.
You’re a fucking retard. There is zero reason to bring politics in. If someone called Trump a mother fucked who cares. Mother fucker isn’t geared towards a race the n word is. And yes black people use the word because it’s their word to use. Just you mentioning black peoples ability to use the word shows how ignorant you really are
I totally agree with you, Ron! The blacks can say it amongst themselves or in a rap song. This is a double standard. It is a terrible word so hold everyone accountable!
He should not be fired from Nascar. Kyle Larson screwed up but that should not cost him his career.
If the word is that bad “we” Blacks should stop using it. My opinion, the meaning of a word doesn’t change because of who said it.
A person that is proud of who he IS !!!!!!!
Sure it does. You can call yourself a jackass, and that would be fine. No one would question it. If you and your friends decided to endearingly call eachother jackasses, that would be fine. But when I tell someone else that you’re a real jackass, that’s rude. That’s how the world works.
It’s also just plain politeness and courtesy. If I tell you I prefer to go by my middle name, but don’t mind when my family calls by my first name, it’s rude if you ignore that request. An entire community has made it very clear that it’s rude to use that word if you’re not part of that community. So it would be rude to ignore that.
Maybe he and who he was speaking to jokingly called each other by their respective ethnic slang terms.
I’m not condoning it, but it fits your example.
Woww thats the best comment of the day so clear and true…
I agree. It is either ok or not. Should not be excusable based on race.
Amen.
Look the word up in the dictionary…it means ignorant…not black skinned ppl…it says NOTHING about skin color…js
Ummm. No it doesn’t. Not sure what dictionary you are consulting but the meaning of the word is very clear in every dictionary I just looked at.
The original meaning of the word, had nothing to do with race. Since most slaves were uneducated Africans they were considered ignorant because they didn’t understand the language or the customs of the US. Hence why the n word was so widely used referring to slaves. Unfortunately when original meanings are not taught anymore they become forgotten in time. Similarly that a black man named Anthony Johnson from NY was the first person to register his slaves, in the US. Or that Africans were the ones selling them to the ones taking them to the US. Don’t misunderstand I think racism has to go away, and slavery was despicable.
Original meanings of words don’t matter, or take away from their current meaning. Who cares what it’s original definition was. If you say it now, you are being a rude racist.
The black community can use it. They have found a way to take ownership over the word and repurpose it. This does not mean you can use it.
I could call you a jackass. That would be rude. Sure, it’s accurate, and it originally meant donkey, but it’s still rude. You can call yourself a jackass, and that would be fine. No one would question it. If you and your friends decided to endearingly call eachother jackasses, that would be fine. But when I tell someone else that you’re a real jackass, that’s rude. That’s how the world works.
CASEY
I know you are wise but you are arguing with people that think and say that word when no one is watching over and over they use that word with they antourage they even piss of because they cant use it freely as they wish do you think they open minded to listen to what you are saying ? Nope they will never put themselves in other people shoes that dont look like them all they mad about is someone like them got penalized for something they do themselves on the daily basis and agree with it in the down low do not waste your time… stay wise and sharp
ROB
Educate yourself, that statement of africans selling their own had been around to switch the blame its a wrong statement research on that.
The NASCAR community needs to give Kyle Larson another chance for his mistakes ! We need to move on through this hard time and learn by his mistake. Everyone deserve a second chance in life
Race car drivers go out and race. We often see tempers flare, cars are hit, spun out and crashed, often in anger. Thats OK, put someone’s life in danger, crash their car, cause hundreds of thousands of $$ in damage, that’s OK. Our government leaders lie, cheat and steal our tax dollars, that’s Ok. Our fellow citizens comit some aweful crimes, that’s Ok, but let a white man use the N word and that is the end of his career. I hear blacks use that word a lot, and that’s ok. I personally think something is out of whack here. I don’t think it is right to use the N word, but let us put it back into perspective, I mean it is just a word. In the first grade I was taught sticks and stones will break your bones but words will never hurt you. Guess we were a lot tougher back then.
Absolutely..well said! There are worse things going on in the world than the use of the N word! Definitely not worth being fired.
I LIVE IN MIDDLE GEORGIA IN A 60% BLACK CITY AND HAVE HEARD THE “N WORD” USED MANY TIMES BY THE BLACK TO BLACK DISAGREEMENTS. OF COURSE LARSON SHOULD NOT HAVE VOICED IT AND IT HAS POSSIBLY COST HIM A CARRER AND UNTOLD MILLIONS OF DOLLARS .
Kyle deserves another chance. Losing his career over this is crazy! If Bubba is forgiving why cant we all be.
It’s very disconcerting indeed when Bubba forgives Kyle and then it’s considered a “controversial” comment by the Internet Assassins and the Social Justice Warriors. Just saying.
I just think it’s a shame and disgrace that a word from any race of mankind can totally destroy a human being and his entire family’s life that has worked their entire life to make. Everyone says stupid things every day of there life that they don’t mean anything by or to bring harm or bad feelings about. That’s the reason Jesus gave his life freely that our weakness of humanity could be forgiven.
Waiting for RAP music to stop using it and many other words….. Still waiting….Still waiting…….Come on sponsors…..LOL that is what I thought….. COWARDS
So! It is perfectly fine for a black person to refer to another black person as nigger but when a white person says it, its outrageous. Lets be clear. If it is so bad why is it still being used by black people in comedy, songs, and in most cases, in general conversations? And for a white person to be crucified for its use is absolutely ridiculous.
Since it is widely used by the black community it can NOT be offensive.
Bullshit…its kinda like how you can beat up your little brother and it’s all fun and games but if someone else beats up you little brother its war….it kinda works like that
It can’t work like that!! It’s 100% racist for you to think it’s ok to use it like that . If you don’t wAnt me to use it , lead by example . This country will never be able to move forward . Here is my case , my great great great grandfather fought In the Union and along with 500,000 other white men and lost his life . He was fighting so black folk could be free. Died so black folk to be . Never once have I ever heard any black folk say thank you . But black folk call us racist and think I owe them something , you got all you going to get from my family . That was the life of my granddad!!! If we as a country are to move forward , this has to be taught in February!! Don’t you think ?
I think you need to do some research on the REAL reason why the Civil War was fought. I also think you sound like you use the N-word…a lot.
Blacks dont say Nigger, they use the term Nigga. If Larson ha said it with an A instead of the R, it would’ve been less harmful to his career. Everyone uses the word Nigga nowadays, it’s like saying Bro.
Thank you , just wished that others understood the correct meaning.
I would like to ask Bubba Wallace a question and if he is a man of his word as he says he is let’s hear his answer. Bubba have you ever used the “N” word ? Now truthfully answer this. Thank you.
DAMN SHAME, A WORD UTTERED IN FRUSTRATION, FORGIVENESS IS DUE, AND NOT A LIFETIME OF HATE AND THE TAKING OF A
LIFETIME OF YOUR TALENT AND MEANS OF INCOME. THERE IS ALSO THE CASE FOR A BEAUTIFUL WIFE AND CHILD WHO WILL ALSO SUFFER FOR A MISTAKE THAT SHOULD BE FORGIVEN, AND WE ALL MOVE ON.
I do believe that everyone deserves a second chance! Kyle has always been a great guy and a good member of Nascar !!! You can tell this by his interviews and the way he interacts with other drivers. I believe his apology was sincere. But what concerns me most is that the are taking away his livelyhood, how he supports himself and family.I believe a suspension is in order and some counseling and community service. They are not firing him for what he said but for how it affects them. I believe the N word is bad. It brings us back to times I and the country do not want anymore. The positive that Kyle can bring from this far out weighs the negative impact. Use this as a tool for the future instead of as a negative. I am a Nascar fan and what was said will not stop me from being a Nascar fan or sports fan. I am a Chip Ganassi fan and my favorite driver( Kurt Busch ) Drives for him. Kurt is another driver who’s mouth got him into trouble. He was given a second chance and his now a great member of Nascar and society, has charities that he sponsors etc. I too was given second and in some cases third chances and I am grateful for them and have grown from them.
Everyone saying that because black people say it he and every other race should be allowed to say it is so ignorant. First of all, black people don’t go around caller each other a nigg*r. I’m black and I have never heard any black persons say that to one another. Second, when black people say “nigga” in rap songs or to each other it is NOT a derogatory statement and it is not meant to oppress our people like the word nigg*r was meant to oppress an entire race. White people know exactly why they use that word with the hard R. So, no it is not ok for Kyle to use that word or get a slap on the wrist for using it just because black people use the word “nigga” within their culture. If he didn’t want to come off racist and ignorant he shouldn’t have made that mistake and the way that word flowed from his mouth I am sure that is not the only time he has made that “mistake”. Mistakes cost people careers, lives, families and whatever else and that’s just life. Life is not going to be fair and you’re not going to get a pass just because you’re white. I hope he learns from his mistake.
The only person with any intelligence or an understanding of humanity. They say NASCAR fans are racist white trash, as a racing fan that always bothered me because I am brown, but i realize that i am the exception, not the rule.
Fired over a cartoon game. NASCAR is turning into an joke.
Yes, Kyle made a terrible mistake in using a politically incorrect word. He immediately apologize for his actions.
Some of you think Kyle wasn’t sincere in his apology. Kyle’s sponsors, car owner and NASCAR refuse there support him for his one word mistake. Go to http://www.nascarfoundation.org/kylelarson. Then click on Kyle’s Kare-A-Van Auction – NASCAR Foundation. Maybe this will shed some light on Lyle’s character and obvious verbal mistake.
in the first place all of you need to hear what he said it was not the n word there was an a at the end not a r and it has a complete different meaning
Boogity, boogity , boogity……Now that is offensive and should be banned for life !
NASCAR has always supported GOD and Country in its opening ceremonies. GOD has forgiveness for any sins or mistakes we make if we ask. Throwing a man to the wolves without allowing him to repent is wrong.
I wonder how many drivers in the NASCAR hall of fame have used the word and would probably admit to it .
You are exactly right, and you cannot go into a #McDonald’s without hearing it over and over. More prevalent from the Employees. They are far from having any business portraying themselves as all righteous.
Are you conparing mcdonalds employees to a sponsored individual making more than all of those emplpyers combined?
Kyle is a good guy ,maybe a fine or suspension,but fired when that word is everywhere,news ,tv no one is getting fired.I am a big race fan only sport I watch,you have given other racers 2nd change why not Kyle,may have to rethink what iwatch.to me that’s nascar trying to be god.Give him back his job
If McDonalds is banning Black Americans, then why is there a difference between Kyle Larson one time Verbal Mistake that was followed by an Online Visual Apology to those offend or to Mc Donald’s continued discrimination of Black Americans and that McDonald’s still serving or selling Coca Cola products at McDonald… it appears maybe there’s a double standard here with the Coca Cola Head Management and StockHolders.
To me, it just a continued confusion or maybe where my thoughts and loyalty lies with CocaCola. Trust me I know CocaCola will do just fine with or without my support and so will Kyle Larson but just don’t understand why so many things have changed over the years to be so mean because of money .. and wonder is this really about what really happened that day. I bet Kyle Larson would would have apologized once he realized what he said.
Thanking you in advanced for allowing me to give my opinion regarding this situation.
Macdonald’s has a lot of blacks working for them and don’t ban them from eating there this ban talt is bull get a life this is not slavery days which was wrong but it came from across the big pond
ITS A WORD! SO WHAT!!!
Chip Ganassi should reconsider his decision to fire Larson. I’m sure Larson has learned a valuable lesson and will be a better person. My real thinking here is I wonder if Ganassi has ever used that word himself. Probably some of his sponsors have also. If Bubba Wallace can forgive him then so should the rest of us. I’m not Larson’s no. 1 fan but do think he is a very talented driver. Thank you for giving me an opportunity to state my thoughts
I think it’s bullshit!!! Until African Americans stop calling each other by that name it should not be a life altering event if someone else uses it. I mean hell every time I hear it’s it sickens me. Reguardless of who’s using it but guarantee you won’t hear of a black man getting fired for using the N word or even cracker.
I’m about to write a controversial opinion. Years ago Tony Stewart killed a man. He said it was not intentional. We took him at his word. The NASCAR community rallied around him. I know, I know, the kid shouldn’t have been on the track etc. Supposed “weed in his system.” He still killed a boy. His behavior after races , shoving fans, horrible comments etc. Was legendary. Never was he fired or NASCAR sit him out for his terrible words. Not to mention, how many have fail “drug tests?” They aren’t just told you are done. They enter a program to earn back their way. And finally, you know, kids Kyle Larson’s age don’t really see race. They just see people. My kids are the same age. They BS each other with words like “nigga” and probably many other unacceptable name calling. They are white and have black friends. No one gets offended.
Racism is only continually brought up by most people over 40. People who can’t let go . I really think the new generations of young people will change this continual “racism” issues. The NASCAR community should embrace Kyle. Help him move forward. I truly do not believe his words were intentional to hurt any one. He’s apologized very sincerely. Stop being big brother NASCAR. I hope Kyle does go to SHR. Tony sure has learned a lot about forgiveness and moving forward.
I’m trying to understand this headline “Bubba Wallace makes controversial Kyle Larson statement”. Are we saying Bubba Wallace’s capacity for forgiveness after an apology for such a mistake is controversial?
If so SHAME on the writer of this article for destructive race-baiting. That is the very thing that divides us. Unless I’m missing something, Bubba is showing leadership and the kind of compassion that would unite this polarized society!
Sorry for the lack of clarity in the title. The word controversial was meant for Kyle Larson and not to Bubba Wallace’s comment.
Anyways, our sincere apologies for the lack of clarity.
Much better. Thank you for addressing that.
I think Larson should get another chance.He made a mistake and apologized.I think it would be different if he continues to say that,but some people have made mistakes and not paid the rest of their lives.One other comment is Mcdonalds banning blacks. I did not know that.I’m black have have never been denied service.
This country has gone bat-crap crazy with all this PC Sh..stuff. Take Larson out behind the garage and kick the shit out of him then put him back in his car to race another day. Old school…
the use of the N(word) is used to a larger extinct by rappers in their song lyrics. It appears that the general public doesn’t have an issue and readily allow this type of music to be purchased and listened to by their kids of various ages. why are people not held accountable!
After listening to the crap coming from Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson over the years I say put Larson back in the car and get over it !!!
The word originated in the 18th century as an adaptation of the Spanish negro, a descendant of the Latin adjective niger, which means black.
This is stupid every one when u can’t even say anything with out some one getting but hurt over it get over it already