Jimmie Johnson is one of the drivers who cut ties with helmet artist Beam DesignsGETTY IMAGES
Drivers Jimmie Johnson, Kyle Busch, Joey Logano, Bubba Wallace and Ryan Blaney cut ties Thursday with Jason Beam, the "well-known helmet artist who used his Twitter account to rip NASCAR's decision to ban the Confederate flag from its races and tracks," according to ESPN.com. One of the tweets from the @BEAMdesigns account read: "The Confederate Flag, North vs South in the Civil War, a war over separation of the Union, not slavery. But hey ignorance wins again, NASCAR you realize the North had slaves too, lol not just the South, you want to remove the American Flag as well, idiots." Beam also tweeted that he "did not support 'erasing only particular elements of history' to please a particular audience" (ESPN.com, 6/11). In L.A., Chuck Schilken notes at one point Thursday, a Twitter user "tagged Johnson and Blaney and asked the drivers to end their relationships with Beam." Beam "scoffed at the notion, tweeting that the drivers 'don't let opinions on history get under their skin.'" But hours later, Beam was "proven wrong" when Johnson and Blaney "tweeted they would no longer be using Beam's services because of his recent tweets." Logano "soon joined the fold, tweeting 'it's important for me to be associated with like minded people.'" Beam said that he "respected the drivers' decisions" (L.A. TIMES, 6/12).
