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NASCAR slams 'Let's Go Brandon' chant, says it does not want to be associated with politics

"It's an unfortunate situation and I feel for Brandon, I feel for Kelli," Phelps said. "I think unfortunately it speaks to the state of where we are as a country."

NASCAR President Steve Phelps strongly denounced the company's ties with the popular anti-Biden chant "Let's Go Brandon!" on Friday, November 5 as he stressed that the auto racing company did not want to be associated with either side of the political aisle. 

"It's an unfortunate situation and I feel for Brandon, I feel for Kelli," Phelps said. "I think unfortunately it speaks to the state of where we are as a country. We do not want to associate ourselves with politics, the left or the right." Anyone who illegally displays the company's logo with the chant might face legal action from their end, he added. "We will pursue whoever (is using logos) and get that stuff," Phelps said. "That's not OK. It's not OK that you're using our trademarks illegally, regardless of whether we agree with what the position is."

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NASCAR's public denouncement of the anti-government chant comes after former baseball player Lenny Dykstra posted a photograph of a man eating breakfast at a New Jersey hotel wearing a black “Let’s go, Brandon” shirt alongside NASCAR’s trademarked color bars on Twitter. Phelps also made it clear that the organization respected the office of the presidency. "Do we like the fact that it kind of started with NASCAR and then is gaining ground out elsewhere? No, we're not happy about that," Phelps concluded.

How did 'Let's Go Brandon' chant get traction?

The phrase “Let’s go Brandon!” went viral after NBC Sports reporter Kelli Stavast disingenuously claimed on camera that the crowd at a NASCAR race was yelling “Let’s go, Brandon!” when they were actually chanting “F**k Joe Biden!” After the video footage of the chant was analyzed later, her claims were disproved and the phrase has ever since become synonymous with anti-Biden boos.

After the phrase went viral, Christian rapper Bryson Gray adopted it into a song called 'Let’s Go, Brandon,' that went to number one on Apple iTunes, and only presently has been bumped off the top spot of the music charts by singer Adele. The self-proclaimed “most censored rapper in America” has been criticized over the song as it's a rhetoric on the pandemic response, President Joe Biden, and the botched Afghanistan withdrawal. Soon after, YouTube censored the song claiming it violates their policies over medical misinformation. Ironically Gray raps in the first verse, “if you ask questions ’bout the vax, then they gonna ban us.” After the YouTube ban went into effect, the rapper tweeted, “YouTube has banned ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ song from YouTube due to ‘medical information,’ What medical misinformation is in the song? Whoa.”

The phrase has now been used on the House floor in Congress a number of times. Congressman Jeff Duncan (R-SC) made a statement by wearing a face mask on the House floor on Monday, October 25, that featured the viral message. Florida Rep Bill Posey ended a speech on the House floor last week with an enthusiastic “Let’s go, Brandon!”