The NASCAR driver who inspired the anti-Biden 'Let's Go, Brandon' chant says he fears it's alienating fans and sponsors

Brandon Brown at Kansas Speedway on October 23, 2021 in Kansas City, Missouri.

Sean Gardner/Getty Images

• NASCAR driver Brandon Brown told the NYT he dislikes the anti-Biden chant that uses his name.
• In October a reporter tried to disguise chants of "Fuck Joe Biden," claiming it was "Let's Go, Brandon."
• "Let's Go, Brandon" has since become the go-to anti-Biden chant for many Republicans.

Brandon Brown, the NASCAR driver who inspired the anti-President Joe Biden chant sweeping the US, says he fears it is putting off fans and sponsors.

"Let's Go, Brandon" became the insult-of-the-moment for Biden in early October, after Brown appeared on a NBC broadcast moments after securing his first major victory.

As he spoke to a reporter, a group of fans started chanting "Fuck Joe Biden" behind him. The reporter interviewing Brown tried, in vain, to nullify the chant.

"As you can hear, the chants from the crowd — 'Let's go, Brandon!'" she said. 

Since then, "Let's Go, Brandon" has spread across America. It has been used by members of Congress, one of the world's biggest streamers,  in churches, and by a Southwest Airlines pilot. 

However, speaking to The New York Times, Brown, he is focussed on racing, not politics, and views the chant as unhelpful.

The chant may have driven away fans and limited his chance to secure new sponsors, said Brown, who is himself a Republican voter.

"Our whole navigation is, you want to appeal to everybody, because, all in all, everybody is a consumer," Brown said.

"I have zero desire to be involved in politics."

"This whole Talladega race win was supposed to be a celebration, and then it was supposed to be something that I was able to use to move up, and I really wanted to capitalize on that," Brown said.

"But with this meme going viral, it was more of, I had to stay more silent, because everybody wanted it to go on to the political side. I'm about the racing side."

On November 12, White House press secretary Jen Psaki said that Biden was unmoved by the chant.

"I don't think he spends much time focused on it or thinking about it," she told reporters.

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