Jeremy Fuller (pictured), a tire changer for a NASCAR team known as Red Bull Racing, was canned after he tweeted at least one antigay message.
While in San Francisco on Sunday, Fuller tweeted a picture of a gay pride banner and wrote, "This is way [sic] I don't live here!" A follower of his tweeted back, "If we could get rid of them, it'd be a lot better." Fuller appeared to respond to that tweet with "lol... Don't we all wish!" After Red Bull Racing became aware of the conversation and fired Fuller, he denied sending the last message.
"It was a joke between two friends and it cost me both of my jobs," Fuller toldSceneDaily.com, a NASCAR news site, referring to his jobs changing tires for both Red Bull Racing and Turner Motorsports. "I'm not racist and I do not hate gay people. It wasn't intended to be what [it appeared]... I didn't write anything about getting rid of them or 'ha ha' or 'laughing out loud.'"
NASCAR's code of conduct bars employees from making public statements disparaging another person's race, color, creed, national origin, marital status, religion, age, handicap, or sexual orientation. A NASCAR statement said the racing organization has "zero tolerance" for discrimination and does not support Fuller's tweets.
The gay NASCAR blog Queers4Gears first broke the story.
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