January 2, 2022 — NASCAR is walking back its approval of driver Brandon Brown’s sponsorship with the LGBcoin “Lets Go Brandon” cryptocurrency after initially approving the deal, Brown’s spokesperson Maxwell Marcucci told FOX Business.
Brown’s name became connected with the anti-Biden chant through no fault of his own. As a result, he had trouble finding sponsors. Thankfully, he found a solution – albeit a sweetly ironic one – only to have the carpet pulled out from under him.
So let me get this straight… the NASCAR managers would rather let Brandon and his team dangle at the end of a rope (a.k.a. garage door pull) with absolutely no support, because of something he had no part of?!
“Lets Go Brandon”
In case you don’t know, this whole controversy stems from an incident that happened back in October at the 2021 Sparks 300 in Talladega, Alabama. That’s when Brown drove the family-owned Brandonbilt Motorsports Xfinity car to his first major win.
Brandon was being interviewed and the crowd was chanting, “F*** Joe Biden.” NBC reporter Kelli Stavast either tried covering up the obscenity or simply misheard them, saying “You can hear the chants from the crowd, ‘Lets Go Brandon.'”
And that’s how Brandon’s name became inextricably linked to politics. The euphemism, which took an insult and put a positive spin on it, quickly became a rallying cry among American patriots; and the unintentional meme irrevocably entered the political lexicon.
In an interview with The New York Times, Brown said he is a Republican, but is not hyper-focused on politics. “I have zero desire to be involved in politics,” Brown said.
Brown initially was upset over the phrase that connected him to the anti-Biden chant, complaining that the meme was costing him marketing opportunities and he couldn’t get anyone to sponsor his car.
“It got extremely difficult for us,” Brown told Sports Business Journal. “If you’re a national corporation, that means you sell to all consumers … So it’s hard for a brand to want to attach to somebody who might be kind of divisive in their consumer base.
LGBcoin to the Rescue
That’s when LGBcoin stepped in and offered to be Brandon Brown’s primary sponsor in 2022. The crypto company was coined LGB as a direct reference to the infamous phrase and the coin’s website proudly states “Lets Go Brandon!”
“Having the financial support of LGBcoin is incredible, especially at such a pivotal time,” said Brown in a press release. “The support of LGBcoin empowers us to be as competitive as possible and I’m looking forward to competing hard on the track in 2022.”
Brandonbilt Motorsports announced its partnership with LGBcoin on December 30, and said that the cryptocurrency’s “LGB coin” logo would be displayed on Brown’s Chevrolet Camaro for all 33 races of the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
The LGBcoin car would first be seen at Daytona International Speedway in February 2022. It was a nice happy ending for an unfortunate situation.
NASCAR’s About-Face
In a surprising turn of events, NASCAR suddenly hit the brakes on Brown’s crypto sponsorship deal AFTER it was approved. They had even offered feedback on minor graphic design changes, so they can’t claim it was a misunderstanding or mistake. NASCAR doesn’t seem to have a leg to stand on if they really do renege on allowing Brandon’s sponsorship deal.
NASCAR already set the precedent of allowing political speech on cars, when in June of 2020 they allowed for Bubba Wallace to drive a Black Lives Matter car. This was after Wallace ridiculously claimed that someone had hanged a noose in his garage at Talladega Superspeedway, when anyone could see it was just a garage door pull.
LGBcoin is a legitimate cryptocurrency, and race cars have been sponsored by cryptocurrencies before. So, since no one else was brave enough to come forward and sponsor Brandon Brown, why shouldn’t he be able to have them as his sponsor? Especially since the sponsorship was already approved!
The million dollar question: What made NASCAR suddenly change their minds??? It’s not like they were unawares. Maybe they’d like it better if the LGB sponsorship featured a rainbow flag instead of red-white-and-blue colors?
1/5/2022 UPDATE: Hedge fund manager and LGBcoin advocate James Koutoulas threatened to sue NASCAR on behalf of LGBcoin holders if it makes good on its rejection. “Now it’s war,” he tweeted.
1/25/22 UPDATE: ‘Let’s Go Brandon’ NASCAR Driver Brandon Brown Signs ‘8-Figure’ Deal With LGBcoin Despite Logo Ban – TheMix.net