Bubba Wallace is speaking out about the rope incident from earlier this year, as well as the ensuing backlash he got from the entire situation. Wallace’s comments come more than a month after the U.S. president criticized Wallace over the discovery of a perceived noose in his garage, which turned out not have been a hate crime.
Trump called the incident a “hoax” and stated that he thinks Wallace should have apologized to NASCAR fans.
“Has Bubba Wallace 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 tweeted in response to the investigation.
Wallace appeared on The Today Show and discussed the message from the president as well as him wanting to “stoop down” to Donald Trump’s level.
“There was a part of me that wanted to stoop down to his level, but after a lot of consideration and a lot of stern looks from my girlfriend about the right thing to do, I felt like, you know what, somehow, some way, I’m going to go higher than the highest seat in the office. And love won, and love wins every day.” Wallace went on to say, “There’s a lot of hate in this world, a lot of things that are still going on to this day, but at the end of the day, if we could come together and show so much love, compassion, and understanding, we will get to a much better place that we need to.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Wallace said, “It’s been a crazy process ever since all of that. Things have kind of calmed down a lot on that side of things, but things have been really moving in a positive momentum as far as sponsorship stuff. It’s middle of the season. So we got a lot of moving pieces to figure out, but things are finally starting to get nailed down in place.” He continued: “But just went through a lot through those last couple of months, but it made me a better person. It kind of made me understand what I was told years ago, about keeping your head on a swivel. And it’s all coming around in more aspects than just at the racetrack. It’s part of everyday life. So we’re all good, though.”
