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After NASCAR suspended him, Josh Reaume claimed a photo of his "evening snack" was "taken out of context" and that he "never meant to offend anybody."
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports
  • NASCAR suspended a Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series driver and team owner Josh Reaume in response to a recent post he made on social media, the organization announced Tuesday.
  • Reaume violated a NASCAR rule that prohibits members from “public statement[s] and/or communication that criticizes, ridicules, or otherwise disparages another person based upon that person’s race, color, creed, national origin, gender, sexual orientation, marital status, religion, age, or handicapping condition.”
  • NASCAR didn’t include the “specific nature” of the post, but Reaume later confirmed to Toby Christie that the source of controversy was a photo of icing shaped like a swastika on a Toaster Strudel.
  • Reaume initially responded to his suspension that a photo of his “evening snack” was “taken out of context,” and later maintained that he “put icing on it arbitrarily” and did not intend any harm.
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NASCAR issued an indefinite suspension to one of its drivers for violating its sensitivity policy, the organization announced Tuesday.

Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series driver and team owner Josh Reaume is facing a behavioral penalty that “stemmed from a recent post made on social media,” according to NASCAR. Officials declined to reveal “the specific nature of its content.” But motorsport publication Kickin’ the Tires originally reported that the 30-year-old’s post was rooted in anti-Semitism.

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Josh Reaume stands with his truck prior to a NASCAR Truck Series auto race at Phoenix Raceway in November 2020.
AP Photo/Ralph Freso

Though no official source has shared the photo in question, Reaume confirmed in his initial statement on Twitter that the issue was linked to “a picture of my evening snack” that was “taken out of context.”

“I grew up in an ethnically diverse family and West Africa was my home for 13 years,” he added.

Since then, Reaume has attempted to explain the situation via an interview with Toby Christie. 

"What happened was, I made a Toaster Strudel, I put icing on it," he said. "I put icing on it arbitrarily ... I was mindlessly putting icing on a Toaster Strudel thinking about how I was going to arrange to get my daughter to daycare in the morning because that's my responsibility and I was flying out to Phoenix the next day."

When he was done, he snapped a picture of his creation and posted it to his Snapchat account with the caption "Snack time." Reaume claims he did not realize the photo would be accessible to anyone beyond his immediate friends as his account was set to private.

"Somebody obviously screenshotted it or did something with it and pushed it to NASCAR," he told Toby Christie.

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Josh Reaume during the Ford EcoBoost 200 at Homstead-Miami Speedway back in 2017.
Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Reaume contends that "not a bone in my body" intended to offend or harm any community and insists that any symbol that came out of his drawing was inadvertent. In his interview with Toby Christie, Reaume said he didn't have a copy of the picture in question. Since then, however, NASCAR has provided him with a photo. 

"If you asked me point blank questions and you asked me, 'Josh, did you intend to draw a swastika on a Toaster Strudel?' the answer would be no," he said. "If you said, 'Are you a Nazi, and do you hate people?' The answer to both of those questions would be no. So, what the image looks like right now, I don't know. In the situation I'm in now, I play games in my head like, is this really blatant? Does it look blatant?"

Now, Reaume aims to complete mandatory sensitivity training with NASCAR as soon as possible with the hope that he'll be reinstating without missing any races. He noted to Toby Christie that his team is small and cannot withstand an extended suspension like other, larger racing teams.

Reaume has made a combined 14 appearances in the Gander Trucks and Xfinity Series this year, but it's unclear if or when he'll be permitted to rejoin NASCAR competition.

Read the original article on Insider