The Sins Of The Father

Derek Daly uttered a racist slur in the 1980s.

In a story published Wednesday night, WISH-TV said Daly, a freelance racing analyst, had confirmed he was the source of the slur in an anecdote Lamey shared from 33 years ago, leading the station to dissolve its 17-year relationship with Daly.

For the record, there is no contextual defense to Daly’s using the “n-word” back then. It was just as unacceptable then as now. Why it took so long for this to happen is another question, but that Derek Daly said it, and should never have said it, is beyond question.

But what of his son, Conor?

On Friday, Lilly Diabetes pulled its sponsorship decals from Conor Daly’s No. 6 NASCAR ride, saying that it didn’t want the distraction from their cause.

Conor Daly is an Indycar driver who was making his NASCAR debut, with Lilly as a sponsor. He was born in 1991, well after his father’s utterance. He can’t be at fault for what his father said. Even if he was alive at the time, he couldn’t be responsible for his father’s language. But that didn’t prevent Lilly from pulling the plug on him.

Lilly’s full statement, via NASCAR reporter Chris Knight: “Our sponsorship in Saturday’s race is intended to raise awareness of treatment options and resources for people living with diabetes. Unfortunately, the comments that surfaced this week by Derek Daly distract from this focus, so we have made the decision that Lilly Diabetes will no longer run the No. 6 at Road America this weekend.

Lilly was marketing its diabetes products, and Conor was the perfect driver to carry the Lilly Diabetes label.

Conor Daly has Type I diabetes, and at the time, Lilly Diabetes’ consumer brand sponsor Ashley Brewer said: “Currently, we are partnering with Conor … in the capacity to be a platform to educate and inspire fans with diabetes to take action to better manage their health.”

Even this connection wasn’t strong enough to keep Lilly from fleeing the potential storm. It’s understandable for Lilly, in the sense that this is purely for marketing on its part, and an otherwise sound plan fell apart when the father’s use of a racial slur came to light. It was 33 years ago? So what?

Given how the mobs react today, there was no telling how they would take it, what they would do, how it would impact Lilly. Lilly wasn’t in this for a cause, but to sell. Rather than take a risk of backlash from an outraged mob by being associated with a family, even if just the son, that used racial slurs, it chose to pull out.

The elder Daly apologized profusely, and offered an explanation, if not an excuse, for what he said decades ago.

In a statement, Daly said he admitted to using a racial slur for African-Americans during a radio interview in the early 1980s. Daly, who had just moved to the United States then, said the term had a different meaning and connotation in his native Ireland.

Daly said he was “mortified’” when he learned how the term was used in the United States and has never used it since then. Conor Daly, 26, wasn’t born when his father made the comment.

“Finally, I want everyone to know I deeply regret and sincerely apologize for what I said more than three decades ago,” the elder Daly said in his statement.

Whether this makes it somewhat more understandable, perhaps even forgivable given the lapse of time, is up to you. But what of his son? Should he be tainted by his father’s word? Should the family be tainted in perpetuity?

The Indy Star had an op-ed saying the obvious: white people shouldn’t use the “n-word.”

I’m going to go out here on a limb and just say it: white people, please stop using the N-word.

It is not for you. It will never again be for you — your ancestors cashed in all your chips.

Not much of a limb, although it inadvertently raised a curious problem.

So follow my lead — don’t say the word, don’t sing the word, don’t rap the word — just don’t use the word. And don’t defend anyone else who does.

Not being a big rap fan, this presents no problem for me. But does this mean white people can’t enjoy, can’t sing, rap songs? Or is there some sort of white person thing they need to do to not be horrible while still singing their favorite rap tune? Beats me. I won’t use it. I have no clue what others are supposed to do when it comes up in the chorus.

But surprisingly, it also had an op-ed calling out Eli Lilly for taking it too far when dropping Conor Daly.

So let me get this straight, then. You’re stripping away support from Conor Daly this weekend for his Xfinity Series race at Road America because of something his father said 35 years ago? Before he was born?

In what universe does that make a shred of sense?

It makes sense in a universe ruled by irrational and volatile mobs. Reason plays no role in their outrage. Will the mob blame Conor Daly, and by extension, Lilly? There’s no arguing the point. You can’t reason with a mob. You can’t reason with people who seek out any cause for outrage. And Eli Lilly had no idea whether its retaining its sponsorship of Daly would produce applause, shrugs or a mob. As it was only there for the marketing, it decided that this was a risk it was unwilling to take.

The issue isn’t whether Lilly was legally allowed to pull away from Daly. It was. The issue is what kind of universe we live in where everyone lives in fear of the irrational mob, tries to navigate minefields of social justice outrage and wonders when or if the sins of the past will be put to rest.

The Sins Of The Father curated from Simple Justice