Despite admitting he does not feel “comfortable” in Saudi Arabia, BLM-backing Formula 1 star Lewis Hamilton confirmed on Friday that he will still race there regardless of human rights abuses.
Hamilton, 37, has confirmed he will be competing in the F1 race in Jeddah on Sunday, despite supposedly having strong views about the Islamic kingdom’s regime.
Saudi Arabia recently drew negative attention when it announced it had executed at least 97 people since the 12th of March, which the Black Lives Matter advocate branded as “mind-blowing”.
The favoured method of execution in the country is public beheading with a traditional sword, although stoning and firing squads are also employed, with capital offences ranging from murder and terrorism to apostasy — i.e. renouncing Islam — and “witchcraft and sorcery”.
The seven-time Formula 1 world champion went as far as to suggest he is prepared to sit down with the Saudi Arabian dictatorship to discuss improving their civil rights, insisting that “it is 2022, and it is easy to make changes” — although it seems doubtful the all-powerful Saudi authorities will be interested in making substantive changes to the way they run the kingdom on the advice of a foreign racecar driver.
“It shouldn’t be our responsibility to have to do that [discuss human rights with the Saudi government]. But it is obviously a very complex situation. I am always open to having a discussion, to learning more and trying to understand exactly why things are happening and why they are not changing,” Hamilton said.
Hamilton then attempted to distance himself from Saudi Arabian regime by saying that “we don’t decide where we go to race” — as if the multi-millionaire could not refuse to drive — and suggested it is “important we try to educate ourselves”.
The driver is a vocal supporter of the Marxist-inspired protest movement Black Lives Matter, adorning himself in clothing featuring the BLM clenched-fist logo and slogans before races, and at one point raced in a black car.
Yet despite admitting he had received a letter “from a 14-year-old who is on death row” in Saudi Arabia, he has not indicated that he will be making a political statement — such as taking the knee — as he has been fond of doing in Western nations before races.
Hamilton has not moved to make an official effort to try to intervene in the execution of the 14-year-old either, instead insisting his role is to “educate” — although about what is unclear, and that it is up to “those who are in power to really make the changes”.
Formula 1 has agreed a 15-year deal to hold races in Saudi Arabia there has been no indication that this will be changed in the immediate future.
Speaking to Breitbart London, political commentator Sophie Corcoran called out Hamilton’s hypocrisy, suggesting that if he was that concerned about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia then the solution is “quite simple: he shouldn’t race.”
“Put principles before money and trophies, virtue signalling won’t achieve much,” Corcoran said.