NASCAR: Matt DiBenedetto deletes Twitter after ‘controversial’ comment

NASCAR Cup Series driver Matt DiBenedetto deactivated his Twitter account after making a statement that many viewed as controversial because of how it was worded.

It was announced Monday that Kyle Busch will need to take sensitivity training ahead of the 2022 NASCAR Cup Series season due to his usage of an offensive word in an interview after a frustrating ending to his playoff run in the round of 8 finale at Martinsville Speedway.

Matt DiBenedetto quote-tweeted Fox Sports reporter Bob Pockrass reporting that this training would be mandated for Busch, just as most expected it to be considering how NASCAR has handled other recent incidents involving offensive language.

DiBenedetto wrote the following.

"“I feel like living on planet Earth in 2021 is permanent sensitivity training *laughing emoji*”"

Not long afterward, DiBenedetto deactivated his Twitter account.

You can hardly argue that what he is saying is wrong at face value; you definitely need to be more careful now than ever before, and social media has only magnified the importance of being filtered in what many would classify as a “cancel culture”.

Many had no issue with the comment, and you can’t really blame them considering the fact that it’s a pretty accurate description of the world in which we are living.

But this remark was seen as controversial by some because of the fact that DiBenedetto said what he said in a light-hearted way (on an Instagram story, he confirmed this by adding, “Trying to bring light hearted humor to our crazy world *laughing emoji*”).

This was unfortunately misconstrued by many as him minimizing the need for Busch to take sensitivity training for using the word he used.

Some even called the 2021 All-Star Fan Vote winner “racist” considering the fact that Kyle Larson, who used a racially insensitive word last April, also had to take this training. This was somewhat baffling considering Busch’s issue had nothing to do with racism and this was the specific issue to which DiBenedetto was referring.

All in all, DiBenedetto effectively proved his own point that you need to be careful, as you really are walking on egg shells whenever you make a statement with which somebody may disagree — whether you mean it to sound the way it sounds or not.

And he noticed that; he added the following before deleting his account.

"“Comments below are proving my point. Social media and this day in age made me sad. Attacking people has become the norm even through light hearted humor. We as humans are our own worst enemies”"

This whole incident interestingly comes after DiBenedetto, who is not under contract with Wood Brothers Racing beyond the conclusion of the 2021 season, said that he wants to find a team which will allow him to be himself and speak on issues such as religion and patriotism in which he believes strongly, adding that he doesn’t want to be censored.