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IndyCar has removed a t-shirt for the upcoming Freedom 250 Grand Prix in Washington DC that has been widely panned as tone deaf and being open to a racist interpretation.
The race, which is set to be driven around the National Mall later in the summer, will be held in celebration of the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
But one shirt, which was described as a ‘fun graphic tee’ and was priced at $50, has since been pulled from the website for the grand prix due to a tactless caption.
The image shows the seated statue of President Abraham Lincoln as seen in the Lincoln Memorial with a racing helmet on his head.
But above and below the image of the 16th President – who signed the Emancipation Proclamation that freed slaves in the US – read the words ‘One Nation / One Race.’
Once the shirt hit the website, it went viral on social media and gave IndyCar plenty of negative backlash – even after the item was taken down.
IndyCar has pulled a T-Shirt after receiving backlash over its possibly racist interpretation
The item was only available for purchase for a short while before it was taken off the website
‘They really f****d up with this and they know it,’ wrote one user on X.
Another said, ‘Tell me you only have white people working in your organization without telling me you only have white people working in your organization.’
One user echoed a similar idea: ‘And, they took it down…Not sure who approved this design, but they should be fired.
‘IndyCar selling a “One Nation, One Race” t-shirt for the Freedom 250 is incredibly insensitive and inflammatory. This is something that should never have been approved,’ Ryan Erik King, a staff writer at Jalopnik.com.
‘What a fundamentally insane shirt for IndyCar to promote and sell,’ wrote motorsport historian Elizabeth Blackstock.
In a statement provided to The Athletic, IndyCar said, ‘A shirt was removed from IndyCar’s online store following feedback from customers.
‘We understand that some individuals found its phrasing concerning and therefore have remedied the situation.’
IndyCar told the outlet that the shirt made its debut on Wednesday and was ‘removed within a few hours.’
