Lilly Diabetes pulls sponsorship from Conor Daly because of what his FATHER said 30 years ago

Lilly Diabetes pulls sponsorship from Conor Daly because of what his FATHER said 30 years ago

The word and thought police have reached brand new levels of crazy. Professional race car driver Conor Daly has lost a sponsorship because his father reportedly uttered a racial slur in the 1980’s.  To put this in some perspective, Conor wasn’t born until 1991, yet he is paying for the sins of his father.

I had to double-check this report to make sure it wasn’t satire, but sure enough, Conor’s dad allegedly said the “N” word more than thirty years ago, so Lilly Diabetes has pulled its sponsorship of his son‘s No. 6 car in the NASCAR Xfinity race at Road America.

The last 24hrs have been quite an unnecessarily difficult ride for my family. There is A LOT I want to say… but I’m still here and still racing. I appreciate the support from @roushfenway and ALL of you. @LillyDiabetes has been a big part of my career and Im very thankful. #6

— Conor Daly (@ConorDaly22) August 24, 2018

The problems began when Colts play-by-play announcer Bob Lamey was overheard telling a story about something he’d heard and during the telling of which he used the racial slur, quoting someone else (who was later identified as Conor’s father, though he disputes the details).

WTHR reports:

WISH-TV has fired racing analyst Derek Daly after learning Daly used the racial slur that former Indianapolis Colts play-by-play announcer Bob Lamey later repeated in a story, which led to Lamey’s departure from the Colts.

That information corroborates what WTHR was told by the radio employee who filed the complaint against Lamey. 13 Investigates learned that just days before Lamey announced his retirement, a complaint was made against him, alleging he used the “N-word.” It was made by a radio employee, who claims she heard Lamey say the racial slur, was shocked, and had to speak up.

. . . .  The employee says Lamey used a racial slur off the air, in a conversation after a radio interview last Tuesday at Colts Camp. She says he was telling a story about when he worked at IMS, sharing what someone else said at the track. “He had asked me if the mics were off and I said, ‘Yeah, I turned everything off. You’re fine,'” the employee recalled. “Bob Lamey’s describing this person saying he was asked in an interview, ‘Do you think anyone’s holding back their speed at IMS during quals? Do you think anyone’s holding back?’ And that person had replied ‘there aren’t any ‘blank’ in this race.”

She says Lamey didn’t say “blank” in retelling that story, and used a racial slur. “He said the ‘N-word,’ yeah. He thought it was OK to use that type of language at work. He was like, ‘Oh I’m so so sorry. I’m so sorry if you’re offended by this. I didn’t mean to offend anyone’ and I was like ‘I’m black and I wouldn’t ever say that word’ and sort of just told him how it hurt me and how I don’t think he should say it ever, even if he’s telling a story,” the radio employee said.

“Then once he saw my face and realized he had messed up he had started really like profusely apologizing saying ‘Please don’t tell anybody.’ When I left he said it again, ‘Please don’t tell anybody. Don’t mention this to anyone’. I think he was apologizing so much because he knows it’s wrong and he knows that people lose their jobs for that.”

Earlier this week, Conor’s father, Derek Daly was fired from his WISH-TV job as a racing analyst after it surfaced that he may have been the subject of Lamey’s story and the one who had used the racial slur in the early 1980’s.  At that time, Daly was an Irish race car driver who had just relocated from his native Ireland  and was unfamiliar with how loaded that word can be in this country.

The IndyStar reports:

Broadcaster Derek Daly denies being the original source of the racial slur that forced longtime Colts play-by-play announcer Bob Lamey to retire and caused WISH-TV to sever its ties with Daly.

. . . . But in a statement provided to IndyStar on Thursday afternoon, Daly denied confirming that he was the source of Lamey’s story. Daly said he admitted to WISH-TV that he had used the n-word during an interview in the early 1980s. He said that he told WISH the conversation including the slur was with then-IMS radio announcer Larry Henry.

. . . .  Daly, however, wrote in his statement that he had used the racial slur after Henry asked him how things were going with his new team.

“I responded by explaining that I was a foreign driver now in America, driving for an American team, with an American crew, and with an American sponsor – and that if things did not go well, the only ‘n-word in the wood pile’ would be me.

“At the time, I meant that I, as the new foreigner on the team, would shoulder the blame and I would be the scapegoat. This was not in any way shape or form meant to be a racial slur. This phrase was commonly used in Ireland, Britain, and Australia. When I used that phrase in the early 80’s, I had no idea that in this country that phrase had a horribly different meaning and connotation, as it was commonplace in Ireland. After moving to the United States, I quickly learned what a derogatory term it was. When I was first informed of this, I was mortified at the offense I might have caused people. I have therefore never used the word since.”

In an email sent to IndyStar along with his statement, Daly provided links to stories about prominent members of the England’s military and government using the same offensive phrase.

Daly’s full statement can be read here.

It’s really not clear why one story differs so greatly from another, but the bottom line is that the senior Daly admitted to using the slur in the 1980’s, lost his job for it this week, and now his son is being punished as well.

The Indy Channel reports:

Lilly Diabetes has pulled its sponsorship of Conor Daly’s No. 6 car in the NASCAR Xfinity race at Road America, citing a racially insensitive remark made by the driver’s father in the 1980s that surfaced this week.

Lilly said in a statement Friday that its sponsorship was intended to raise awareness for treatment options and resources for people living with diabetes.

“Unfortunately, the comments that surfaced this week by Derek Daly distract from this focus, so we have made the decision that Lilly Diabetes will no longer run the No. 6 at Road America this weekend,” Lilly said.

Primarily an IndyCar driver, Conor Daly is making his NASCAR debut at the rural Wisconsin road course Saturday with Roush Fenway Racing. Messages left for a team spokesman seeking comment were not immediately returned on Friday night.

https://twitter.com/toadmeister/status/1033270135090565120

I’m not a fan of people who have zero to do with policy being lambasted, even losing income, for something they said thirty years ago, but this latest SJW-PC police lunacy is a bridge far too far.  How long before we have to undergo DNA testing and genealogy-based background checks to ensure that our family tree is devoid of anyone who ever said anything offensive?  Tragically, I’m only half-kidding.

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