NASCAR driver Ray Ciccarelli's family 'attacked and abused' online after he disapproved of confederate flag ban
After NASCAR driver Ray Ciccarelli announced on his social media page that he will quit racing at the end of the season after the league said it was banning Confederate flags from its events, he said he and his family were being abused online. "My wife, my family have been attacked and abused on social media. It’s just heartbreaking," Ciccarelli said in a lengthy interview with Toby Christie shortly after his infamous Facebook post. He clarified that his comments were 'misconstrued' and that while he did not necessarily support what the Confederate flag represented, he just wanted people to be able to fly the flag during the races.
"In no way shape or form was I defending the Confederate flag," he said. "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."
He added that he primarily had an issue with NASCAR implementing rules on both matters "out of left field", again stressing on the fact that he had no issues with Black Lives Matter protesters and that his comments on kneeling during the national anthem had been twisted out of context. "I had seen the news thing come through referring to NASCAR now allows you to kneel during the anthem. It just irritated me some," Ciccarelli said. "I believe in standing for the national anthem, and I believe that if you want to kneel during the anthem, you should kneel. It just kind of triggered me, because we're being told you can’t kneel, now you can kneel. It just set me off."
Calling the incident an "educational learning experience," Cicarelli hopes that his clarification on his comments would make the critics back off. Last week, Ciccarelli wrote on his Facebook: "Well it's been a fun ride and dream come true but if this is the direction Nascar is headed we will not participate after 2020 season is over, I don’t believe in kneeling during anthem nor taken (people's) right to fly whatever flag they love. I could care less about the Confederate flag but there are people that do and it doesn’t make them a racist all you are doing is f***ing one group to cater to another and I ain’t spend the money we are to participate in any political BS!! So everything is for SALE!!"
His statement came after NASCAR announced his decision to ban Confederate flags in its events going forward, in the wake of nationwide protests raging after the death of George Floyd. The African-American man was killed on May 25 after a Minneapolis police officer kneeled on the former's neck for nearly nine minutes. "The presence of the confederate flag at NASCAR events runs contrary to our commitment to providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all fans, our competitors and our industry," NASCAR said in a statement on its Twitter page on Wednesday, June 10. "Bringing people together around a love for racing and the community that it creates is what makes our fans and sport special."