The automotive community is full of funny, interesting, smart and kind people. It also tends to be very unfortunate towards gatekeepers and generally not welcoming to new and different faces – be it women, people of color, LGBTQ people or others – and before you just Turn out that this is not your personal experience, sadly one for many others.
Many of us journalists do our best to combat such behavior by sharing the stories of people who may not have gone unnoticed for the wonderful things they do. The risk of using that attention is that it can sometimes fall on people or organizations that don’t quite deserve it, and while it’s rarely on purpose, the way we deal with it because media is extremely important.
All this leads us to MotorTrend and the jewel in the crown of the net, Walker, and how that organization has dropped the ball on this front so many times to such a remarkable extent that it has placed a man with a very obvious white and neo-Nazi tattoo of supremacy in front and center in the show’s most recent episode.
I came across these tattoos by accident while looking at them Walker in a hotel room. Even though I’m not really an expert on hate symbols, I keep an eye on tattoos while paying only half attention. Episodes with a host David Freiburger And Mike Finnegan the road tripped up a great 1939 Ford from Georgia to Texas. The segment involving the man with the offensive tattoo was just one part of the duo’s random stop at a military driving experience in Alabama, about 20 minutes from Talladega.
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In this particular segment, the tattooed guy, Kevin, is seen waiting for Finnegan and Freiburger in a military Humvee with his head propped on his fist, prominently displaying a shield tattoo with Nazi SS symbol and the numbers 14 and 23. The SS logo is pretty easy to understand, but 14 references a popular 14-word white supremacist credo: “We must ensure the survival of our people and the future for white children.” Number 23 refers to the “23 Precepts,” a code of conduct for members of the Alabama prison gang, Southern Brotherhood, all of which are endorsed by the Anti-Defamation League hate symbol database. Later in the episode, there’s a long shot of another set of tattoos with a vampire or zombie that looks like Hitler and has another part of the SS logo on his face.
I wouldn’t assume the hosts share or endorse this guy’s beliefs, but I find it odd that during the time they’ve been with him they haven’t noticed the tattoos and what they say. it with the manufacturer. Furthermore, it is believed that no one on the crew noticed the Nazi SS tattoo literally during filming, and it is completely unbelievable that no one else would have noticed during all the retouching. or during the approval process. I mean, I see it on a 14-inch laptop screen, and it It’s not like I’m the Rainman of the Nazi tattoo.
So I took to social media to ask MotorTrend and the people behind Walker What happened. I didn’t get an answer, but what I did get was quite a lot of outrage and support, and more disappointingly, a lot of people on the other side of the argument, with the majority of these comments come mainly from Reddit. That’s sadly less surprising than it should be, but what’s surprising is the MotorTrend team or anyone involved in the show’s lack of communication. My postings about the show happened around 7:00 p.m. Pacific time on Monday, May 8. As of noon the next day, the episode remained, even though I heard it from sources. inside MotorTrend that it was noticed by upper management. and that they were “crazily trying to take the episode down.”
People on Twitter started reporting that the episode was taken down around 8:30 p.m. PT on the same dayand any mention of it on social media has been removed from MotorTrend’s account as well as the show and show organizer’s accounts. What hasn’t happened and what hasn’t happened as of time of publication is a public statement from MotorTrend apologizing for what happened.
Concerned, I contacted Scott Shaffstall, head of communications for the MotorTrend Group. I asked what happened to allow something like that to be published and what caused the delay in taking the claim down. The statement I received was not exact revelation:
“When we were alerted to the issue of a facility operator’s tattoo in the latest episode, we immediately removed the episode from all platforms. The short has been removed and the episode will be re-posted soon for Roadkill fans.
Then I asked if there had been any process changes made or talked about that would prevent something like this from ending up on the screens of thousands of people. I have yet to receive a response, and it is unlikely that I will, based on information I received from a source inside MotorTrend Corporation on Thursday.
“Today we had a quick meeting across MotorTrend on this issue where the higher ups, namely our CEO [Alex Wellen], has informed staff about the episode, that it has been edited and re-released, and has no plans to announce it publicly at this time,” the source said. “They are updating the screen abandonment protocol for future guests of the show. They reiterate that this is not talent hired, but someone who showed up on the day of the shoot and they got him on the show. How did no one recognize the Nazi symbols I don’t know, and we didn’t receive an apology.”
So now, knowing all that, what’s the lesson here? It’s no surprise that something as petty, unfortunate, or shameful can slip through the cracks of an organization as large as the MotorTrend Group. Videos have to go through many people before being released online and time is always short. What’s shocking is that this apparently went undetected, and what’s even worse is that MotorTrend’s lack of urgency to fix the problem and absolutely no apology to the viewership for blowing Fly hate symbols over a beloved car show. Is it an organization worth supporting? I’m starting to think no.
Another takeaway is that we all still have a lot to be ashamed of as car enthusiasts. While we cannot control the preferences or beliefs of others (nor should we), we can and should control those who normalize hatred, unsympathize, and disapproval. welcome from our community so we can all feel safe and comfortable participating. a forum or subreddit or appear at an event.
The Nazis, neo or otherwise, are bad, and if you sympathize or rationalize their existence and participation in our society, then congratulations, you are the problem. If you think intolerance of hate is hypocritical, then go fuck yourself.
