Seven-time Drivers’ Champion Lewis Hamilton was once slammed for his perceptions of gender. Hamilton long has been extremely vocal about his desire to promote social inclusion and diversity and reduce the racial gap.
Despite his activism, the 38-year-old was once deemed as the perpetrator rather than one who spreads information and prevents such forms of discrimination from taking place. It was in August 2022 that the Briton was slammed by several F1 fans for his ‘toxic masculinity’.
Lewis Hamilton was once slammed for his ‘toxic masculinity’
As quoted by Chris Heath from Vanity Fair, Hamilton once posted a video on his social media handle on Christmas 2017 that was not taken too kindly by F1 fans. The 38-year-old posted a video with his nephew, who was wearing a purple and pink dress.
Since Hamilton was not too pleased with the dress choice of his nephew, he asked him, “Why are you wearing a princess dress? Is this what you got for Christmas? Why did you ask for a princess dress for Christmas? Boys don’t wear princess dresses”!
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The video was not taken too kindly by some F1 fans, who slammed him for gender shaming. As quoted by Vanity Fair, one of them wrote, “Go stick your toxic masculinity up your a***”.
Since Hamilton is usually one who fights for such issues, he did admit that he felt embarrassed that he could have hurt somebody. He labeled his post as ‘stupid’ and one in which his ignorance came out. He ended his remarks by stating that while it is difficult for anybody to undo things, he did learn from this incident.
Hamilton has always fought for social justice
After dominating F1 for several years, Lewis Hamilton has explained in recent years of how he always felt that something was missing from his life. The 38-year-old stated that he felt that while winning races and championships was great, he felt that he had an obligation to use his position of power to give back to society.
As a result, he began various initiatives such as Ignite and Mission 44 to promote social justice and diversity. He uses Mission 44 as a platform to provide opportunities for underprivileged children from various backgrounds.
Alongside these initiatives, he also works alongside various stakeholders to fight against racial discrimination and other pressing issues that affect society. For example, in F1 itself he has worked alongside the management to increase opportunities for people of color and women since it is primarily a male-dominated sport.
