NASCAR driver Brandon Brown, whose name inspired the "Let's Go Brandon" anti-Biden meme, says that it has become hard for him to get new sponsors due to his connection with the phrase, which stands as a substitute for "F*ck Joe Biden."
The popularized phrase first emerged after an NBC sports newscaster remarked that fans cheering "F*ck Joe Biden" in the background of her interview with Brown were instead saying "Let's Go Brandon."
Speaking to Sports Business Journal, Brown said that he isn't political and would like for the whole situation to go away.
"It got extremely difficult for us," Brown said to the outlet. "If you're a national corporation, that means you sell to all consumers … and unfortunately, when you get dragged into the political arena, people want you to take a side."
"I've never been put in a position where it’s, 'OK, what side are you on? Left or right?' So it's hard for a brand to want to attach to somebody who might be kind of divisive in their consumer base. If I'm going to divide Coca-Cola, why would they want to talk to me?" Brown added in the interview.
"So the short answer is it's been tough to connect with partnerships just because it's kind of viewed as a ticking time bomb: 'What is he doing to choose or say and how would that effect our consumer base?' It's too much of a risk. I understand it on their side but it's made it really hard to tie everything down," Brown voiced.
Brown told the publication that he has largely refused to take action against people who've used his name to sell their own merchandise, but conceded that there have been a couple of instances where he felt pressured to act, though he did not specify against which individuals or how they infringed upon his rights.
"He said NASCAR has given him some counsel on how to deal with the overall situation. NASCAR President Steve Phelps said at his state-of-the-sport press conference in November that the league would protect its marks as it relates to unofficial merchandise being made around the slogan," the outlet reported.
"The unfortunate part is it's my name and my career that are at stake and the risk is high. If I do something wrong in this arena, my name as a driver falls off very fast … Even a career in NASCAR if I didn't make it as a driver, trying to get another job in the community, I'm always going to be the 'Let's Go Brandon' guy. I'm always going to be known for that and how I handled this situation," he said.
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