A NASCAR iRacing event is yet again being overshadowed by something a driver said on a livestream. Hailie Deegan, 19, issued an apology on Sunday after she used the R-word during a live broadcast of an iRacing event. She used the word while talking about another driver in the race who had bumped her car. Video of the exchange was captured and uploaded to Twiter (Warning: Graphic language.)
"This is fun. Oh, ay, who's the r----d behind me? Don't do that please," Deegan said on the Twitch stream.
Following the race, Deegan took to Twitter to issue an apology and referred to the word as "inappropriate slang."
"Earlier tonight I used an insensitive word during an online race being broadcast on Twitch," Deegan tweeted. "It was inappropriate slang and a stupid thing to do. I apologize to everyone who was offended by it. There's no excuse for it, and I know I have to do better for my sponsors and my fans."
Deegan is a member of the Ford Performance racing team and the team did release a statement to Fox News regarding Deegan's slur.
"We are aware of this inappropriate comment. Hailie immediately acknowledged this mistake, has apologized and promised to be much more thoughtful in the future," Ford said in the statement.
NASCAR is yet to put out any statement regarding Deegan's use of the slur.
Deegan competed in one NASCAR Truck Series race in 2020 for DGR-Crosley and earned a 16th place finish at Kansas Speedway. In 2018, Deegan, who the daughter of motorcross rider Brian Deegan, became the first woman to win a race in the NASCAR K&N West Series when she was only 17 years old.
This isn't the first time controversy has surrounded an iRacing livestream. During an iRacing event that was streamed in April of 2020, NASCAR star Kyle Larson used a racial slur. Larson lost communication on his headset with his spotter at one point, and during a microphone check moments later said, "You can't hear me?," which was followed by the N-word.
In the days following that iRacing event, NASCAR suspended Larson indefinitely and eventually dismissed by Chip Ganassi Racing. In October, Larson signed a multi-year contract with Hendrick Motorsports.
