New York Mets starting pitcher Marcus Stroman didn’t take kindly to NASCAR driver Kyle Larson’s use of a racial slur during a virtual race.
2017 Mobil 1 Driver of the Year Kyle Larson dropped the n-word during a virtual race on Sunday. It seemed to be his way of checking to see if his crew could hear him.
During the race in a call with his crew, he was unsure if all of them could hear him, so he said: “Hey n-word.”
After a few seconds of silence, his crew responded “Wow, hey” after another few seconds of silence they let him know that everyone heard him say that.
On Monday, NASCAR announced that Larson would be suspended indefinitely without pay. That’s not enough of a punishment for New York Mets pitcher Marcus Stroman.
Stroman believes that Larson should be banned from racing ever again, and he challenged him to a sanctioned fight. This was only made worse by the fact that Larson drove car No. 42. That number is sacred in baseball as the number of Jackie Robinson, who broke the color barrier.
Racism is still rampant in America, and when major stars like Larson use words like this, it only makes it worse. He’s a star in his sport and his words carry weight. Just by saying the word, he’s perpetuating racism in this country, and that’s unacceptable. No apology could wipe that away.
Stroman has every right to be furious and speak out against Larson. It’s unlikely they’ll ever fight in the octagon, but Stroman’s anger is completely warranted.