(CNN) — Editor’s note: This story contains quotes of abusive language toward Katherine Legge that were released to CNN by her team.
British racing driver Katherine Legge told CNN Sports that she has been inundated with thousands of hateful messages, death threats, vulgar and inappropriate comments across multiple social media platforms since she entered NASCAR in March.
One direct message on X said that she should hang herself, the same account adding in a separate, public, post, “You need to be assassinated.” Another advised her to “swallow a shotgun.”
Initially, she wanted to ignore her trolls and deny them the oxygen of publicity, but after a difficult weekend on the track at Rockingham she decided to speak out.
Speaking exclusively to CNN about the abuse, Legge says that while she welcomes fan engagement online, the amount of vitriol is only getting worse.
“Online bullying is getting more toxic, and I think that somebody needs to call it out,” she said. “It’s shocking to read some of the vile things that people write, there just seems to be this whole online movement where people think that it’s OK to say these things that they would never have the courage to say to people in real life; or absolutely shouldn’t.”
Female athletes have recently spoken out about the threats they have received online. At the conclusion of her college career, the basketball star Angel Reese said tearfully, “I’ve been through so much, I’ve seen so much. I’ve been attacked so many times. Death threats, I’ve been sexualized, I’ve been threatened.” WNBA star Breanna Stewart said that police were investigating homophobic death threats that had been sent to her wife and the French tennis player Caroline Garcia reported comments on X that told her to consider suicide and, “I hope your mom dies soon.”
Legge has observed the abuse that athletes endure in other sports, and even some of the invective that is aimed at male drivers in NASCAR. However, she is currently the only female driver on the circuit, and she suspects that as a result, her treatment is worse.
“I think it’s more prevalent with women in sports, especially with women in male dominated sports, because we stick out more, you know? There is the opinion that we are a gimmick, or we shouldn’t be there because we’re DEI hires and we haven’t earned our spot,” she told CNN.
CNN has seen many of the X posts in which Legge has been targeted for abuse online, ranging from “Please get the f**k out of NASCAR” and “I hope you wreck every car you drive in” to sickening vulgarities that are too offensive to print. Her team say that many more toxic messages have been posted on YouTube and Facebook. It’s a sad fact of modern-day life that Legge has become numb to it.
“It’s just noise,” she explained. “I have a thick skin. It’s not worth my time or energy. I can honestly say it doesn’t phase me one way or the other, because they are people who I would not ask an opinion of. The people I respect, team members, my bosses, my partners, my family, my friends, and those who have been there and done it, are the voices that I listen to.”
She added, “It’s just mind-blowing to me because I would never do it. I would ever go online and try and bring somebody else down to raise myself up and so I feel sorry for them, I guess, is the best way of putting it.”
Legge says she doesn’t think that any of the death threats would seriously be carried out, but NASCAR is providing a security detail for her upcoming races and the sport’s head of security has alerted law enforcement in her hometown of the situation.
Speaking to CNN, NASCAR President Steve Phelps described the posts as incredibly upsetting.
“I want to be crystal clear about this, we condemn this behavior. It is unacceptable, this is not appropriate for NASCAR, sports, or the world,” he said.
Phelps also defended Legge against any of her critics who thinks she is somehow undeserving of her place on the track.
“This is a woman who has competed very successfully in all forms of motorsports and we want her here at NASCAR. They can take their opinions and their hate right out of NASCAR, because there’s just no place for it,” he said.
Legge’s two races so far this season have resulted in DNFs (did not finish,) one of which she takes personal responsibility for. At the age of 44, she’s a highly experienced driver, competing in IndyCar, Open Wheel, electric cars and sports cars.
“You name it, I’ve driven it,” she told CNN earlier this year – but she admits she is relatively inexperienced in NASCAR.
She’s been contracted for 11 more races in the Xfinity and Cup series, driving for the Chevrolet-backed teams Jordan Anderson and Live Fast.
“I’m having a great time on these awesome tracks, driving these beasts,” she said with a smile. “I’m hoping to get some results towards the end of the year. All I can do is keep improving and, if they have the capacity, they will change their opinions, and it will die down a little bit. But time will tell.”
Beyond hoping that being a more successful competitor will dampen the online abuse, Legge said the only way to truly extinguish it in society is to make it socially unacceptable.
“The reasonable people in the population think that it’s unacceptable, right? It’s bullying. It’s something that you’re taught as a child isn’t cool,” she said.
“I didn’t set out to be a role model,” she added. “I just set out be a racing driver and with that comes a responsibility.”
Events beyond her control have now forced her to further embrace that responsibility, and she hopes her example will inspire others to speak up or, at the very least, learn how to cope with being bullied.
“I tried to be the best role model that I could be for like, a nine-year-old Katherine, act as a beacon of light and maybe somebody being bullied somewhere, even if it’s just one person, if they see this and they think, ‘OK, I’m gonna ignore it,’ then it’s been worth it,” she said.
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