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Updated: “Racism is unacceptable” – Trek-Segafredo reacts to rider’s pro-Trump tweet

Quinn Simmons was replying on Twitter to cycling journalist who asked Trump supporters to unfollow her

Trek-Segafredo's reaction to Quinn Simmons' comments finally landed late Wednesday evening UK time, and he has been stood down from racing. Here is the statement. See our initial article below.

“Racism is unacceptable. Period.” That was the reaction this evening of Trek-Segafredo after its rider Quinn Simmons replied on Twitter to a journalist who had asked supporters of US President Donald Trump to unfollow her on the social network with the word “Bye,” with the pro cyclist, who is white, adding an emoji of a waving brown hand.

The 19-year-old American was responding to a tweet from the Dutch journalist and commentator José Been, who had written a tweet this morning saying: “My dear American friends, I hope this horrible presidency ends for you. And for us as (former?) allies too.

“If you follow me and support Trump, you can go. There is no excuse to follow or vote for the vile, horrible man.”

Been's tweet followed last night’s presidential debate in Cleveland, Ohio between Republican Trump and Democratic candidate Joe Biden in which the president failed to distance himself from white supremacists despite repeated requests to clarify his position by moderator Chris Wallace of Fox News.

At one point, Trump urged the group Proud Boys – described by the Anti-Defamation League as being “Misogynistic, Islamophobic, transphobic and anti-immigration,” with “some members [espousing] white supremacist and anti-Semitic ideologies,” to “stand down and stand by.”

Simmons confirmed in a subsequent tweet that he is a Trump supporter.

Reaction on Twitter to Simmons’ tweets ranges from some urging the team to terminate his contract, others suggesting that as a high-profile athlete he should be given media training to help him understand his responsibilities, and rare messages of support.

The team itself has said it is taking the issue “very seriously” and that it will make a public statement “shortly.”

Pending that full statement, the team has said to a number of people expressing concern about Simmons’ tweets today that “Trek-Segafredo does not condone comments or actions from its riders that add to divisive conversations.”

It added: “The team will work with Quinn to help him understand the appropriate tone of conversation an athlete in his position should maintain.”

The 19 year old from Colorado signed for the UCI WorldTour team on a two-year contract after winning the junior road race at the world championships in Yorkshire last year, a title he still holds with the category not raced at this year’s event in Imola.

He was a key support rider in the team’s spring classics campaign earlier this year before the season was interrupted by the coronavirus pandemic, and earlier this month finished second overall at the Tour de Hongrie.

He raced the Fleche Wallonne today, coming home in 135th place, and according to Procyclingstats.com his forthcoming programme includes the three remaining Monuments of the season – Sunday’s Liege-Bastogne-Liege and, later in October, the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix.

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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103 comments

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Dhill | 3 years ago
0 likes

Really missed the point of both sides of the argument here. Jose Been is a white female journalist. So why did this Simmons block use a black hand? Equally if he were black and used a white waving hand, would this be a debate?

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Dhill | 3 years ago
0 likes

My personal opinion was he did not see a picture or know too much about her specifically, saw the name José and automatically assumed a Mexican as that would be where he would have had most experience of that name.  But as he has never clarified and just says it wasn't racial, we will never know.

As for the argument the other way, it might have looked less racial as one of them was white (although if he had used to default Yellow hand, most would have assumed he was pretending to be Trump), But then others assumed it was only because he was also showing he was a Trump supporter so there might have been some debate, especially as the original Tweet asking his supporters to unfollow was after a particularly discussion in the debates where he looked like he was supporting White Nationalists and militia. 

But now the discussions are over as Trek confirmed it was becaue of the potential Racial Nature of the tweet and not because of who he looked to be supporting as others thought. 

Tweet is still strangely still up though I noticed. 

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Organon | 3 years ago
5 likes

Apropos of nothing:

The Moon is huge right now, so when I got into the house I found Waterboys - Whole of the Moon on youtube and started listening. I then looked for people who have walked on the moon, and started looking at Wikipedia. As the sound was coming to its crescendo I am looking at the list of astronauts and thinking 'amazing.' At that exact point I remembered just what state the US is in the moment and exclaimed "Ahhh, America."

I now know what Razorlight were going on about.

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WeLoveHills | 3 years ago
4 likes

Simmons has simply added yet one more piece of evidence that being a Trump supporter is synonym to being a complete imbecile.

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Derk Davies | 3 years ago
4 likes

Half my family are black and Indian descent (adoption). I am not and have been using a black thumbs up for a very long while as my political leaning is more towards being an Anarchist (ie. think and live your own way). I get out on the streets and fight racist idiots at their stupid marches. This is the first I've heard about it being racist. Exactly the opposite is the view in our family. If this is how some think then obvoiusly using a yellow hand means you hate the simpsons. If I want to wear a skirt am I a masogonist? I think supporting a wannabe dictator is far more worrying.

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AlsoSomniloquism replied to Derk Davies | 3 years ago
0 likes

Digital Blackface is a thing and has been around in various articles for the last 3-4 years. A lot of focus on Gifs though rather then Emojis. (and the default yellow ones have also been raised.)

If he had been known for using multi colours or a specific colour Emoji all the time, it might not have been construed in that way. However when his standard is white/pink,  he specifically used this non standard brown colour wave during an argument when Trumps racism was at the fore to a person who had a first name that a Yank would associate as being Mexican. (Some Americans defending Jose have also made the same mistake before she deleted/privated her Twitter)

 

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hawkinspeter replied to Derk Davies | 3 years ago
3 likes
Tim K wrote:

Half my family are black and Indian descent (adoption). I am not and have been using a black thumbs up for a very long while as my political leaning is more towards being an Anarchist (ie. think and live your own way). I get out on the streets and fight racist idiots at their stupid marches. This is the first I've heard about it being racist. Exactly the opposite is the view in our family. If this is how some think then obvoiusly using a yellow hand means you hate the simpsons. If I want to wear a skirt am I a masogonist? I think supporting a wannabe dictator is far more worrying.

I don't think there's a problem with using a specific colour emoji in general, but if you change it from your usual style then it makes it look like you're trying to make a point (and if the conversation is about supporting Trump then it's going to look like a racist comment).

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peted76 | 3 years ago
8 likes

From Trek's point of view, their PR dept must be on 'high alert' at the moment.. remember it was only a couple of months ago when it was reported Trek Bikes being used against BLM protesters in that crazy country called 'merica.

I'd imagine Quinn's brown hand emoji tweet set the cat amongst the PR pigeons, which quickly escalated up to the magpies in the higher up nests, who reacted with a 'to be seen to be doing something' suspension.

From a HR perspecitve he's in team kit on social media and therefore represents the company he works for. In fact from a general UK HR perspective, whether an opinion is public or private, if it 'gets out and there is any association with the company', then that opinion is 'associated' with that person's opinion, then legally it's a work issue. 

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peted76 | 3 years ago
3 likes

Lots of nothing going on here.. This response sums it up I feel.

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half_wheel79 | 3 years ago
4 likes

The lad shouldn't have got involved simple. As a public figure and with a wealth of sponsors behind him and in this current climate especially, he should have thought twice. But he's only 19, I'm sure we all made mistakes at that age. 

That being said I don't think his actions could be deemed racist at all, Been isn't black so how could the "waving hand" be derogatory ? Also as much as an orange wotsit faced, nob jockey that trump is, people can still agree with some of his policies (admittedly those are slim on the ground). Trek are playing a dangerous game by suspending him, their case better be cast iron.

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Jenova20 replied to half_wheel79 | 3 years ago
2 likes

It gets even weirder when it's pointed out that the Proud Boys leader(?) isn't white, is Cuban, and that Biden is the one telling people they're "not black" unless they vote for him.

How difficult is it for companies to realise that getting involved in politics will only alienate people/voters and harm them.

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Captain Badger | 3 years ago
2 likes

Speech is not free, as with most activities it is subject to the law. Incitement to violence is a criminal offence, and slander and libel can be chased in the civil courts. Juries are prevented from commenting on cases that they are sitting on, and there are legal restrictions on what the papers can report in the news. Perjury is a serious offence that can land you in jail. As a principle, absolute freedom of speech just does not exist.

The case in question is neither as severe in the statements, nor the consequences. An individual has made public statements that his employer has taken exception to (the statements were made on a twitter account that makes absolutely clear his connection with his employer), and has been reprimanded. Welcome to the world of work Quinn.....  

 

 

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darrenleroy replied to Captain Badger | 3 years ago
2 likes

Taking exception to someone expressing his voting preference? WTF?

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Captain Badger replied to darrenleroy | 3 years ago
2 likes

You would need to be privy to discussions between employer and employee to come to that conclusion. I don't believe you were.

It is more likely to be about connecting political views to Trek that may be damaging to the brand. As Simmons is an employee of Trek, yes he has to think ahead before making public statements if he wishes to continue his relationship with his employer. Most of us do...

Simmons is still free to make political statements. Trek is still free to review the relationship if he does. At no point will Simmons be prevented from making any statement he sees fit, and if the relationship ends, he can even do it without mixed loyalties.

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Legin | 3 years ago
12 likes

Free speech isn't free, people have usually died to get it, fairly costly I suggest? And with the right comes responsibility, something Trump, Quinn Simmons and many other people with extreme political views just don't get.

When people talk about free speech and democracy they tend to forget (because history is boring right?) that Adolf Hitler was freely elected by the German people. He promised to make Germany great again, he had a private army of right wing thugs, he was happy to instigate violence on the streets so the Nazi party could display its law and order credentials. When it comes to accepting election results, to be fair, Hitler wasn't concerned, he got rid of elections completely.

So while you can (just in case the freedom to do so is taken away) why don't you play spot the difference between Adolf's approach and Trumps current trajectory?
Been is right, Trump needs voting out because too many of our freedoms will be at risk if he isn't.

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Rich_cb replied to Legin | 3 years ago
5 likes

So the best way to protect democracy is to punish people who support the wrong party or have the wrong political ideas?

Because that sounds suspiciously like the approach taken by a certain man you've already mentioned....

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Nick T replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
7 likes

Where did they say that in their post?

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Rich_cb replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
0 likes

The bit about Quinn not realising his responsibilities.

That seems very much like a justification for his treatment.

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Legin replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
4 likes
Rich_cb wrote:

So the best way to protect democracy is to punish people who support the wrong party or have the wrong political ideas? Because that sounds suspiciously like the approach taken by a certain man you've already mentioned....

I haven't commented on his "punishment"; I'm struggling to see how you could interpret my words that way; perhaps your post is what people call "fake news"? 

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Rich_cb replied to Legin | 3 years ago
2 likes

What did you mean when you talked about Quinn's responsibilities?

Do you think people should have their job prospects harmed because they support a legal political party?

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Nick T replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
3 likes

There's plenty of jobs which preclude the employee from expressing their political views publicly. Out of interest, where do you stand on Lewis Hamilton wearing BLM t shirts in post race interviews?

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Rich_cb replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
2 likes

Whilst at work he should adhere to any agreed dress codes.

In a personal capacity he should be able to do as he pleases.

If Quinn unzipped his race jersey to reveal a MAGA logo he should be punished, if he merely expressed a political opinion in a private capacity he should not be.

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Nick T replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
7 likes

Posting on your official blue-tick social media platform where you are pictured wearing your work uniform, I would consider this to be "at work". A white man using a black hand emoji during a discussion on white supremacism is untenable for any employer

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AllegedlyAnthony replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
6 likes

Simmons' job is to promote Trek bicycles and Segafredo coffee. He shouldn't need media training to understand that appearing to hold racist views will upset him employers. But to answer your second question, many employees have got into trouble or lost their jobs for making public statements (including Fb posts and tweets) that do not "align with company values", on their private accounts.

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Rich_cb replied to AllegedlyAnthony | 3 years ago
1 like

You're missing the clear difference here.

Quinn has been punished for expressing support for a political candidate.

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Nick T replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
9 likes

He's been punished for using a black hand emoji in response to someone's anger at a political leader failing to condemn white supremacy 

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Rich_cb replied to Nick T | 3 years ago
2 likes

So if he'd used a white hand you think that nobody would have minded?

You haven't spent much time on the internet recently have you?

There is no agreed correct skin tone to use with emojis. Any choice can be perceived as racist.

Google it, it's quite fascinating in a strange sort of way.

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Nick T replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
4 likes

They certainly wouldn't as presumably that's what his phone has saved as the last used skin tone, or the default of yellow. To actively choose a black skin tone in response to a conversation on the legitimacy of a white supremacist group raises questions

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Legin replied to Rich_cb | 3 years ago
0 likes

I think we know from your numerous posts on this matter where you stand. I'm fairly confident you also fully understand what is meant by "responsibilities" when it comes to freedom of speech. If you don't, I apologise, and suggest you invest time reading relevant material rather than writing stuff based on a limited understanding of the subject matter.

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Rich_cb replied to Legin | 3 years ago
2 likes

I see you've neatly avoided answering the question or clarifying your position.

I'm not a mind reader, the term responsibilities has myriad potential meanings.

Please answer the questions.

What did you mean when you talked about Quinn's responsibilities?

Do you think people should have their job prospects harmed because they support a legal political party?

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