"Whether tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose. So it wasn’t directed at me, but somebody tied a noose, that’s what I’m saying," Wallace, one of only a handful of Black drivers in NASCAR history, said on CNN.
Bubba Wallace is speaking out in media interviews following the FBI's determination that there was no hate crime committed after a noose was found hanging in Wallace's garage. “Whether tied in 2019 or whatever, it was a noose. So it wasn’t directed at me, but somebody tied a noose, that’s what I’m saying," Wallace, one of only a handful of Black drivers in NASCAR history, said on CNN.
The FBI said the noose hanging in Wallace's garage at Talladega Speedway was actually a garage pull that had been there for months, and Wallace was "not the target of a hate crime."
After the incident was reported to NASCAR by one of Wallace's team members, fellow drivers supported Wallace in a stirring display of solidarity, following him as he drove down the track.
One video shot last October shows the rope with its end tied into a loop hanging in stall 4, the garage used by Wallace last weekend. Inside Edition discovered videos as far back as 2017 of other stalls at Talladega which show garage door pulls looped into what look like nooses.
The FBI's determination led to Wallace being attacked on social media with hashtags such as #fakenoose.
Wallace doubled down in media interviews on Tuesday and Wednesday that the rope was, in fact, tied to look like a noose, although he added he was relieved he wasn't specifically targeted.
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