NASCAR driver Katherine Legge says she’s received “disturbing messages” including death threats and hate mail online. Speaking exclusively to CNN, she addresses the comments and shares her message with others who might also be suffering online abuse.

Katherine Legge, a professional NASCAR driver, has been addressing the online abuse she has endured, including death threats and hate mail. During an exclusive interview with CNN, Legge detailed the extreme nature of these messages, which have instructed her to take her own life, and she emphasized her responsibility to speak out against such toxicity. She addressed the issue on her podcast, Throttle Therapy, hoping to bring awareness and inspire change regarding online bullying which she believes is becoming increasingly worse.

Despite these challenges, Legge remains determined not to let the abuse affect her personally, although she acknowledges the initial shock of reading the vile comments. She expresses concern for less experienced individuals in the sport and other areas subjected to similar treatment. Legge compares her situation with that of athletes like Simone Biles who also faced online attacks, underscoring the urgent need to address this behavior.

Legge appreciates the support she has received from fellow drivers within the NASCAR community, who have publicly stood by her. She emphasizes that this problem is not specific to her gender or role, but a broader issue. Although she did not set out to be a role model, Legge aims to be a source of inspiration for others facing online bullying and hopes her actions can serve as encouragement for others to ignore such negativity.



NASCAR’s Katherine Legge addresses ‘disturbing’ online abuse

Received a lot of disturbing messages, you know, I've been told things like I should hang myself and swallow a shotgun and I should be assassinated and I've been under a barrage of online bullying really and while I don't really look at that or I try not to look at it myself it's been brought to my attention and I've been told to address it because I have a voice and with that voice comes a certain responsibility so I did address it I addressed it on my podcast Throttle Therapy and I think we have some examples of some of the things that people have been writing that crossed the line in my opinion so hopefully if we can bring a spotlight to it then we can we can change the landscape a little bit I think it's just getting it's getting worse and worse online bullying and social media is getting more toxic and I think that somebody needs to call it out. When you and I have spoken before I think you've you've said to me that you've you've tried to ignore it or you don't want to read it but when it is brought to your attention and when you do have to read it how does it make you feel? It doesn't bother me anymore I think it's shocking to read some of the vile things that people write so the initial shock is like wow how did how did he or she come up with that? We are so grateful that the fans are as passionate and as invested as they are and they're all entitled to an opinion so I think we just take the good with the bad but not everybody is as seasoned as we are at this level and so I feel bad for those starting in the sport or in any sport that are subjected to this you know you saw what happened with Simone Biles when she was at the Olympics and there just seems to be this whole online movement where people think that it's okay to say these things that they would never have the courage to say to people in real life or absolutely shouldn't and I've never experienced it in real life so I think that no no I think that then it needs to be addressed and it needs to stop. What kind of support have you had within NASCAR as you've been going through all of this? I've had a lot of support I've had a lot of other drivers reach out to me and offer their support and actually come out publicly and support me a few of them anyway and I've read some of the stuff that has been written about them and so I feel like I'm not alone in this I feel like it's not a Catherine specific thing or a female specific thing I'm very grateful for the support I've had across the board. You've said you you never wanted to be a role model for women in motorsport you just want to be a racing driver but you kind of are a role model whether you like it or not and I would argue that you're a very good one and that and now you've taken another stance which I think I think a lot of people are going to look up to you and I think a lot of people haven't had the courage to do what you have done and I think you're going to get a lot of respect for that I think you're going to inspire a lot of people by by doing that how does that make you feel? Thank you for saying that I hope that's the case I genuinely hope that's the case because yeah I've told you before I didn't set out to be a role model I just set out to be a racing driver and with that comes a responsibility and I've tried to do that responsibly and I've tried to be the best role model that I could be for like a nine-year-old Catherine for example and I hope that it does you know act as a beacon of light and maybe somebody being bullied somewhere even if it's just one person that's being bullied online somewhere if they see this and they think okay I'm gonna ignore it then it's been worth it.

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