NASCAR Nationwide Series driver and son of three-time F1 world champion Nelson Piquet, Nelson Piquet Jr. was fined $10,000 (€7,360) by the sport’s sanctioning body and placed on indefinite probation after using a three-letter homophobic slur on a fellow racer Parker Kligerman’s Instagram page. The Brazilian will also have to attend…sensitivity training.

Kligerman uploaded a close-up photo of himself sweaty and with messy hair, with the description “Trainer got me struggling… #champion” on his Instagram page. Piquet Jr., who is a friend of Kligerman’s, posted the comment “F…” on the page, with Kligerman jokingly replying “He’s just jealous at his lack of masculinity”. Piquet then said, “Yea, I’m the one with the masculinity problem hahahahah”. Piquet’s initial comment was deleted from the page.

One of the fans who saw Piquet’s comment didn’t like the joke and reported him to NASCAR, resulting in the driver being slapped with a $10,000 fine.

“Nelson Piquet Jr. recently communicated an offensive and derogatory term that cannot be tolerated in our sport. NASCAR’s Code of Conduct explicitly spells out in the 2013 rule book our position regarding the use of disparaging terms. We expect our entire industry to abide by this Code,” said NASCAR’s senior vice president of racing operations, Steve O’Donnell, in the announcement explaining the decision.

Although Piquet Jr. initially defended himself by saying it was a joke among friends, he later apologized in a statement.

“I sincerely apologize to everyone for my poor choice of words last week. I did not mean to hurt or offend anyone. This has been a cultural learning experience that will make me a more sensitive person moving forward,” read Piquet’s politically-correct statement.

NASCAR argues that even if Piquet posted the comment in a joking manner, it was visible on social media and fans all over the world were able to see it. We’d like to hear your opinion on this too.

By Dan Mihalascu

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