Bernie Ecclestone has accused the Black Lives Matter organisation of “using” a Formula One ace.
Mr Ecclestone said that the current world champion, Lewis Hamilton, was “being used” by the Black Lives Matter movement, claiming that the organisation was making a lot of money from him. He also claimed that Formula One was now “too political.”
In an interview with The Telegraph, Ecclestone said:
“I’ve said to his father, ‘Lewis needs to be careful’. Because he’s being used by the people who are supporting this Black Lives Matter and they are taking a lot of money from it. And nobody knows where it goes.”
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The former Chief Executive of the Formula One Group also said: “If I’d still been around, there wouldn’t have been anyone wearing T-shirts on the podium, that’s for sure.
“One hundred percent, there wouldn’t have been this business of kneeling before races.”
He added: “They make a lot of fuss over things for the wrong reasons, for political reasons.”
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Lewis Hamilton has previously had an exchange of words with Mr Ecclestone, which saw Hamilton calling him “ignorant and uneducated” for claiming that discrimination in sports was non-existent.
Ecclestone responded by saying that Hamilton had “misunderstood” his view, but that he was “entitled to his opinion”.
Recently, Formula One bosses announced that for the upcoming season, kneeling before the beginning of the race would not be required. The move has been backed by Hamilton, who said:
“I don’t think it’s the most important thing for everyone to kneel. It’s what we do in the background that counts, making a positive change. We will see how we can work together so the sport takes more of a lead.”
The last season saw several drivers refusing to kneel, including Red Bull’s Max Verstappen and Ferrari’s Charles Leclerc.
