Dale Earnhardt Jr cultivated a public persona for himself outside his racing career. He is a media analyst, a live commentator, and a show host. If he has an opinion, the former racer does not hesitate to express it. This invariably invites a multitude of reactions from racing fans the world over. Social media can be an unforgiving space for the biggest of public figures. Junior discovered this the hard way recently.

On the recent episode of his podcast The Dale Jr Download, the Hall of Famer discussed the importance of receiving feedback on online content. His associate and co-host, Mike Davis, strongly disagreed with him on the best course of action in such a scenario.

Dale Earnhardt Jr reads negative comments on his social media posts

The racer and NBC commentator’s controversial opinions on the Darlington race garnered negative reactions. In the playoff race last weekend, Junior made contentious observations about specific incidents. He claimed it was possible for Daniel Suarez to avoid the wreck caused by Alex Bowman. He also opined that Kevin Harvick was not at fault when he crossed the commitment line to make a pit stop under a red light.

Junior received a massive backlash for those statements and co-host Davis felt it was wiser to steer clear of engaging with such comments. On the other hand, Dale Jr was of the notion that content creators have a responsibility toward their audience. He believed it was part of the package deal of putting material online for public perusal.

“The thing about like don’t read the replies, like what the hell is that? That’s cowardice. Why are we creating content if we’re not gonna read the comments to our content?”

Junior elaborated that regardless of whether you approve or disapprove of the feedback, it is important to sift through it. After all, viewer engagement is part and parcel of content creation. He elaborated,

“I feel like you have to have thick enough skin to sort of absorb some of the feedback on the s**t you create. Look, I don’t have to love it. I don’t have to agree with it. But I’m not going to go, ‘Oh, shield my eyes!’ ‘Oh, don’t hurt me!’ I don’t go looking for this outside of the little bubble of social media that I belong in and that I work in. I feel like we’re creating, you know, we go live on YouTube, we open ourselves up to any kind of criticism in those moments. But we’re going to engage.”

Davis however, is aware of the verbal vitriol that trollers produce to draw attention to themselves. He warned Dale Jr about the dire consequences of such interactions.

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Dale Earnhardt Jr has become immune to negative comments on social media

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In the past, the myriad interpretations of his comments often troubled Junior. Davis was firmly of the opinion that Dale Jr could only stomach favorable reactions. He rightly pointed out that social media is a double-edged sword. And, it was impossible to guarantee people’s perception of the content they consume.

Nevertheless, Dale Jr chose to stick to his guns. He reiterated, “Look man, I just feel like I can’t, just my opinion. You’re going to create content, put it on social media, and you’re going to ignore or shield yourself from the reaction or comment to that?”

Moreover, Dale Earnhardt Jr was confident about coming a long way from letting online reactions affect him. He was convinced that negative comments helped him grow and learn over time.

“I’ve gotten so much better at someone saying, I don’t agree with that! Like ten years ago, I don’t agree to that was not a lot of fun to read on social media. I think getting on there and going, yeah okay, big L for me, 90 % of people don’t agree with what I say. It’s good exercise!”

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