A NASCAR crewman who allegedly posted anti-gay tweets has lost his job.
According to a report on NASCAR.com, following the Sprint Cup race at Infineon Raceway just outside San Francisco, a contract tire changer for the Red Bull Racing Team posted a photo of a gay pride banner on Twitter with the comment, “This is way [sic] I don’t live here!” A follower of his responded, “If we could get rid of them, it’d be a lot better.” The response: “lol … Don’t we all wish!”
Red Bull Racing Team fired the crewman, Jeremy Fuller, days later. He also lost his job as a contract tire changer with Turner Motorsports.
Based on responses left on several news sites that ran the story, some fans feel the termination was inappropriate, since Fuller’s comment was not officially representing Red Bull or NASCAR. However, the two organizations do not agree with those views.
A statement from Red Bull Racing Team reads, “The race team regularly conducts diversity training and strictly enforces our team policies against any form of discrimination. We have zero tolerance for such violations and in no way support any of the comments posted by this individual.”
NASCAR’s rulebook includes the same zero tolerance. “A NASCAR member shall not make or cause to be made a public statement and/or communication that criticizes, ridicules or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age or handicapping condition,” according to NASCAR’s Code of Conduct rulebook.
Fuller has been quoted as saying he is not a racist nor does he hate gay people, and the comments were taken out of context.
“It was a joke between two friends and it cost me both of my jobs,” Fuller told SceneDaily.com. “It wasn’t intended to be what (it appeared).”
