\nBREAKING: Bubba Wallace, the only Black NASCAR driver, wants NASCAR to eliminate the white flag, which traditionally signals the final lap of a race. He says it is associated with the Confederate flag and has racist undertones.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
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(X user @ThePatriotOasis)<\/strong><\/p>\n
Variations of the rumor spread on Facebook in multiple<\/a> posts<\/a> with more 30,000 reactions as well as on TikTok<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Some readers seemed to interpret the rumor as a factual recounting of real-life events. However, there was no evidence<\/a> that Wallace wants to eliminate the white flag from NASCAR or that he believes it has racist undertones.<\/p>\n
Rather, the rumor about Wallace and the white flag originated<\/a> with Elite Gridiron<\/a> \u2014 a Facebook page that describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. Its bio states:<\/p>\n
\nElite Daily Dosage of Sports Parodies \/ Satire \/ Updates \/ For Entertainment \/ News & much MORE<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
In June 2020, during the George Floyd protests, Wallace called for NASCAR to ban the Confederate flag<\/a> from its races. NASCAR had asked fans to stop bringing Confederate flags to races as early as 2015, but didn’t take the next step of banning the flag<\/a> until after Wallace called for it.<\/p>\n
The white flag, which is used in NASCAR<\/a> to indicate the final lap of a race, is not typically seen as a Confederate flag. None of the Confederacy’s three national flags<\/a> was a plain white flag. The Confederacy didn’t even use a plain white flag in its surrender to the Union; instead, it used a white towel with three red stripes along the bottom, according to the National Museum of American History<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Elite Gridiron has a history of making up stories for shares and comments. Snopes has addressed similar satirical claims stemming from Elite Gridiron in the past, including the assertion<\/a> that sports commentator Skip Bayless referred to the University of Colorado’s football team under head coach Deion Sanders would be the “next Alabama dynasty.”<\/p>\n
For background, here is why<\/a> we alert readers to rumors created by sources that call their output humorous or satirical.<\/p>\n