Bubba Wallace NASCAR Noose Controversy

Overview

Bubba Wallace NASCAR Noose Controversy, sometimes called Noosegate, refers to the controversy surrounding NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace after a noose was allegedly discovered by a member of his team in his stall at Talladega Superspeedway in late June 2020. After news broke of the discovery, an FBI investigation was launched and ultimately determined that it was a garage door pull rope and that no hate crime was committed. The findings resulted in a wave of backlash against both NASCAR and Wallace, as well as many defending Wallace and commending him for speaking out.

Background

On June 21st, 2020, NASCAR announced that a noose was found in Bubba Wallace’s garage at the Talladega Superspeedway by a member of the Richard Petty Motorsports team, who then notified an official in accordance with standard protocols. In a statement, NASCAR said, “We are angry and outraged, and cannot state strongly enough how seriously we take this heinous act. We have launched an immediate investigation, and will do everything we can to identify the person(s) responsible and eliminate them from the sport.”

Later that night, Bubba Wallace posted to his social media with a statement regarding the noose’s discovery on Twitter,^[1] receiving over 251,000 likes and 44,200 retweets (seen below).

Developments

FBI Investigation and Findings

On June 22nd, 2020, the FBI announced that it would investigate the incident alongside NASCAR officials. The following day on June 23rd, 2020, FBI investigators said that the noose discovered in Wallace’s stall had been there since October 2019 and that no crime was committed. U.S. Attorney Jay E. Town and FBI Special Agent Johnnie Sharp, Jr. stated, "Although the noose is now known to have been in garage number 4 in 2019, nobody could have known Mr. Wallace would be assigned to garage number 4 last week."

On June 23rd, 2020, NASCAR released a statement about the investigation’s conclusion on Twitter^[2] (shown below), noting that what was found was a “garage door pull rope fashioned like a noose. The tweet received over 25,700 likes and 14,300 retweets.

On June 23rd, 2020, Wallace was interviewed by Don Lemon on CNN about the incident, where he stated that while he never personally saw the noose, he was initially reacting to what NASCAR officials told him. After seeing images later on following the conclusion of the investigation, Wallace said, “It was a noose. Whether tied in 2019, or whatever, it was a noose. So, it wasn't directed at me, but somebody tied a noose.”

Online Reactions

After the findings of the FBI investigation were released, many online began debating over the controversy, with a mixture of supporters and detractors of Wallace. On Twitter, skeptics began using the hashtags #NOOSECAR and #Noosegate to decry Wallace for creating an alleged hoax, with many posting messages claiming that he should apologize for the controversy. One such post was tweeted by Twitter^[3] user TimRunsHisMouth on June 23rd, 2020 (seen below), receiving over 36,400 likes and 9,500 retweets.

On June 24th, 2020, Twitter^[4] user Jemele Hill tweeted a message of support for Wallace (shown below), attempting to explain the incident, receiving over 36,500 likes and 9,000 retweets.

Several examples of users relating Wallace to Jussie Smollett also appeared online shortly after. One such example was tweeted by Twitter^[5] user alexpinoy_vegas on June 24th, 2020 (seen below), receiving 478 likes and 122 retweets. Twitter^[6] user jeff_gluck responded to these comparisons on June 23rd, 2020, stating, “I’ll say this one time: Absolutely NOT a Jussie Smollett situation. Do not blame Bubba Wallace. He never saw it and wasn’t the one to report it. He was TOLD about it by NASCAR and reacted like anyone else would,” which was liked nearly 12,000 times.

Memes referencing the incident also began appearing in the following days, with many people posting examples of themselves finding common household items and claiming that they were racist in nature. Facebook^[7] user Mark Dice uploaded one such example depicting an extension cord (shown below), receiving over 18,000 likes, 3,900 shares and 1,500 comments.

Bubba Wallace Reaction

On June 24th, 2020, Bubba Wallace posted a statement after the conclusion of the FBI investigation to his Twitter^[8] account while recapping the events of the previous days. The tweet (seen below) received over 27,200 likes and 4,600 retweets.

Search Interest

External References