Beats by Dre has signed NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace.
It’s been quite an eventful couple of weeks for Bubba Wallace, NASCAR‘s only Black driver.
In late June, a noose was found in Wallace’s garage stall at Talladega, which came during the ongoing Black Lives Matter movement and only a few days after NASCAR banned the Confederate flag from events.
While an FBI investigation found the noose had been there since last October, NASCAR was widely praised for its immediate response, as well as the show of support for Wallace from fellow drivers and crew members at the GEICO 500.
However, none of that stopped President Donald Trump from taking to Twitter Monday morning to falsely accuse Wallace and NASCAR of perpetuating a “hoax” with the discovered noose, even going as far as asking why the driver hadn’t apologized for the situation yet.
Just hours later, Beats by Dre announced it was welcoming Wallace to its ranks with a powerful message to counter Trump’s divisive message:
“We weren’t going to announce this until later this week, but hate cannot win the day,” the company tweeted. “No one should ever be asked to apologize for standing up for what’s right — we are proud to welcome @bubbawallace to the Beats by Dr. Dre family.”
The 26-year-old NASCAR driver now joins the likes of LeBron James, Serena Williams, Odell Beckham Jr. and Simone Biles in the Beats by Dre family.
NASCAR responded that it would “stand tall” with Wallace after Trump’s tweet, and Wallace himself responded to the situation with his own message on Twitter, emphasizing love over hate:
“Your words and actions will always be held to a higher standard than others,” he said. “You don’t learn these things in school. You learn them from trials and tribulations, the ups and downs this crazy world provides. You will always have people testing you. Seeing if they can knock you off your pedestal. I encourage you to keep your head held high and walk proudly on the path you’ve chosen.”