Skip to content
Search AI Powered

Latest Stories

NASCAR Driver Who Inspired 'Let's Go Brandon' Lacks Sponsorships After Leaning Into Anti-Biden Slogan

NASCAR Driver Who Inspired 'Let's Go Brandon' Lacks Sponsorships After Leaning Into Anti-Biden Slogan
James Gilbert/Getty Images

NASCAR driver Brandon Brown may have to sit out races this year due to a lack of sponsorships after leaning into the far-right slogan based on his name.

Brown is the Brandon referenced in the popular far-right refrain "Let's Go Brandon," a coded phrase that means "Fu*k Joe Biden." It was coined after a journalist at a 2021 NASCAR event misreported the crowd's chants of "Fu*k Joe Biden" as "Let's Go Brandon" in reference to Brown, the winner of the event.


After leaning into the viral fame his namesake slogan provided, Brown is now stepping down from a race this Saturday after his main sponsorship, an anti-Biden cryptocurrency named after the slogan, went defunct.

He is now being replaced in this weekend's race and is likely to face a similar fate in future races as well. 


In the wake of the "Let's Go Brandon" incident, Brown tried to duck away from the viral moment, telling the The New York Times in a December profile titled "Brandon Just Wants to Drive His Racecar" that he had an aversion to politics. He told the Times:

“Our whole navigation is, you want to appeal to everybody, because, all in all, everybody is a consumer."
"I have zero desire to be involved in politics."

Two weeks later however, Brown leaned in, accepting sponsorship for his entire next NASCAR season by a cryptocurrency called Let's Go Brandon, despite NASCAR's public objections.

The coin is now essentially worthless and is also a central component of an ongoing ethics investigation into disgraced former far-right Republican Congressman Madison Cawthorn, who promoted the cryptocurrency without disclosing his investments in it.

The cryptocurrency is also the subject of a class-action lawsuit, in which Brown was named as one of the defendants.

Brown has belatedly returned to distancing himself from the slogan and movement he previously embraced.

Earlier this month he participated in an event with a children's book author who has tried to put a positive spin on the catchphrase by writing a children's book about her autistic son Brandon, who thought the "Let's Go Brandon" chant was in reference to him.

But being linked to a slogan beloved by the anti-Biden far-right has unsurprisingly alienated sponsors who don't wish to be associated with America's strain of increasingly extremist conservatism.

Brown lamented the situation he has found himself in while speaking to racing news site Frontstretch:

"I’m still viewed as a political figure."
"I can be viewed as divisive because of the chant. It’s really hard to convince companies that, ‘Hey, that’s not me. That’s just what the crowd was chanting.’ It does make it hard."

On Twitter, some lamented that Brown had gotten caught in the crossfire of America's culture wars.


But many felt Brown brought it all on himself.







Brown told Frontstretch he will be racing in his usual car, Number 68, for two upcoming races, but the car will likely be driven by other racers who can secure funding for the rest of the season.

More from Trending

Alex Cooper singing 'Take Me Out to the Ballgame'
@MBDChicago/Twitter (X)

'Call Her Daddy' Host Alex Cooper Gets Brutally Booed At Wrigley Field After Painfully Off-Key Singing

If there's one thing that all baseball fans can come together about, it's the importance of their traditions—and songs.

In the seventh inning at Wrigley Field during a match between the Cubs and the Cardinals, popular Call Her Daddy podcast host Alex Cooper was invited to sing "Take Me Out to the Ballgame" and brought two backup dancers with her.

Keep ReadingShow less
Linda Yaccarino
Patrick T. Fallon/AFP via Getty Images

X CEO Resigns Day After AI Chatbot Grok Praised Hitler In Alarming Series Of Antisemitic Tweets

Linda Yaccarino—the former NBC Universal executive who later took the reins at X—stepped down as CEO of billionaire Elon Musk's platform after two years on the job just a day after Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, went on antisemitic rants and openly praised Adolf Hitler.

Grok issued deeply antisemitic responses on Tuesday following a reported software update that encouraged the bot to embrace what developers described as the “politically incorrect.” Taking that directive to heart, Grok responded with a series of disturbing posts that included praise for Hitler and even a statement expressing its aspiration to become a “digital version” of the Nazi leader.

Keep ReadingShow less
Black and white photo of a falling spider.
Photo by CHUTTERSNAP on Unsplash

People Divulge Their 'Rare' Phobias That People Refuse To Believe

I am a SEVERE claustrophobic.

I have struggled with this issue for decades.

Keep ReadingShow less
Ted Cruz
Kayla Bartkowski/Getty Images

'The Onion' Rips Ted Cruz With Brutal Headline After Yet Another Vacation During Texas Disaster

The satirical news site The Onion had social media users cackling with its brutal headline mocking Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz for once again being out of the country when Texas was hit by another deadly natural disaster.

Cruz faced considerable national backlash after he flew to Cancún while millions of people went without food and water as a result of the February 2021 Texas power disaster. At least 246 people were killed directly or indirectly; some estimates suggested as many as 702 people were killed as a result of the crisis.

Keep ReadingShow less
Elon Musk and Grimes
Kevin Tachman/Getty Images for Vogue

Elon Musk's Ex Grimes Calls X Platform A 'Poison' And 'Theatre' After Social Media Hiatus

Claire Boucher—who performs and creates under her stage name Grimes, but prefers her birth name or just "C" offstage—recently returned to her musical persona's social media accounts after taking a hiatus for her own well-being.

Once extremely active, she noted on X in April:

Keep ReadingShow less