It’s a story the media loves. What could be better than a noose to encourage a riot? But the rest of us knew.

News anchors reported that a noose was found in the garage of Bubba Wallace, the only black full-time NASCAR driver. On CNN, ABC and CBS anchors described this with phrases including a “disgusting display of hatred” and “an ugly message of hate.”

News reports prompted much support from NASCAR for Bubba, which was nice. But then the real news came out. The noose was a garage door pull that had been around well before Bubba ever arrived.

BUBBA WALLACE 'RELIEVED' ROPE IN GARAGE WASN'T NOOSE TARGETED AT HIM, ACKNOWLEDGES 'EMBARRASSMENT'

So, it's a misunderstanding. It wasn't Bubba's fault. He was told about it.

So, time to move on, media. Except some can’t. Not when they've sunk so much effort into this.

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Al Sharpton said on MSNBC: “It’s clear what a noose represents. And then did someone know that it was in the stall when they did belatedly assign Bubba there? I do not think that we’ve seen closure in this particular inquiry.”

So how does Al still get a pass on this stuff? It’s as if all the anchors willfully forget Tawana Brawley.

So even after the FBI’s 15 agents concluded Bubba Wallace wasn't a hate crime victim, the media can't let go. So what should end as a mix-up becomes media-driven race-bait.

As the story fades the media tries to give it CPR to keep the dissent alive, which means egging the athlete on. It’s not fair to Bubba.

The good news: a racist act turns out once again not to be racist at all. The bad news: the race-baiters don't care.

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Because for the media, evidence of racism is a good thing – even if it’s not real. It’s their way of weaseling out of their role in unleashing the lie.

People who said it was a garage door pull were called conspiratorial. Yeah, people who saw the obvious explanation for a rope tied to a garage door were the whack jobs versus those who saw it as a racist plot. Turns out that half the suburban homes in America are guilty of systemic racism.

This comes just days after "nooses" discovered in a park turned out to be exercise rings installed by a black man.

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Again, it’s the contrast. The left commits genuine acts of deadly violence and it’s called protest. Meanwhile, nonexistent crime is blamed on a law-abiding public.

So who's hoping for hate? Look for the people with the press passes.

Adapted from Greg Gutfeld’s monologue on “The Five” on June 24, 2020

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