In a recent interview, Ray Ciccarelli said that his family has been “attacked and abused on social media” over his decisions regarding the Confederate flag ban and that his comments were “misconstrued”.
Ray Ciccarelli made the headlines last week by saying that he would retire through a Facebook post after the Confederate flag was banned last week from the tracks. However, in a recent interview with TobyChristie.com, Ciccarelli said that his family has been on the receiving end of his decisions and that his comments were “misconstrued”. He says that he was not defending the Confederate flag.
However, Ciccarelli stands by his decision that he posted in the now deactivated Facebook account. He said:
“I wasn’t raised the way people are portraying me to be. That’s just not me. I am not that type of person. Just the attack — my wife, my family have been attacked and abused on social media. It’s just heartbreaking.”
“I regret how it was misconstrued. I don’t regret my feelings of believing in the national anthem and standing. I don’t like the fact that I was misconstrued about defending the Confederate flag. Because in no way shape or form was I defending the Confederate flag.
“Everything I was saying was the fact that I understand both sides’ feelings toward the flag. My viewpoint, all I was trying to say is how do you take (the flag) from one group and help support the group that it offends and then what do you do to the group that you took it from? Now, they get outraged.”
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Asked if he still plans to quit NASCAR, Cicarelli wouldn’t commit either way.
“That’s TBA,” he stated.
NASCAR’s decision to ban Confederate flags at all events was met with expected anger from a large number of its loyal fan base.