Mike Joy defends Leigh Diffey against NASCAR accent critics

Mike Joy has heard enough.

The Fox NASCAR broadcaster is tired of the criticism aimed at NBC’s Leigh Diffey over his Australian accent, and he’s not staying quiet about it. In comments to the Daytona Beach News-Journal, Joy offered a pointed defense of his NBC counterpart while essentially telling critics to grow up.

“I’ve known and worked with Leigh for more than a decade,” Joy said. “He’s always brought an unbridled enthusiasm to his announcing that I don’t think any other commentator can match. Better yet, his level of study and preparation is equal or better than anyone in our profession. His love for the sport and dedication to it puts him at the top of his craft.”

The accent complaints have dogged Diffey since he took over NBC’s play-by-play duties last year. Some NASCAR fans have been relentless in their desire to avoid hearing his Australian accent during Cup Series broadcasts, despite his extensive background in motorsports.

The criticism reached a low point earlier this month when longtime ESPN NASCAR host John Kernan announced he was “done with the sport,” specifically because of how Diffey sounds. Kernan even called himself “xenophobic” on X, as if owning the label made it somehow reasonable.

Unfortunately, this isn’t new for Diffey. He revealed earlier this year that he lost out on a TNT NASCAR job in 2010 specifically because of his accent. A network executive reportedly didn’t want “an accent calling the Cup races.”

More than a decade later, the same complaints persist.

Joy isn’t buying any of it. He pointed out that NASCAR broadcasts have always featured foreign voices, mentioning Englishman David Hobbs and Scot Jackie Stewart as longtime fixtures in NASCAR booths. The sport has never been an exclusively American broadcasting preserve, despite what critics seem to think.

For his part, Diffey seems to handle the criticism better than most would. He acknowledges it exists but chooses to focus elsewhere.

“You know, unfortunately, it’s the state of the world,” Diffey told the News-Journal. “And I just think there’s a lot of negativity … whether it be sports, politics, business, anything. Everybody tends to get on social media and say a lot more negative things than positive things.”

“The majority of the critics, or the negative Nellies … simply because of the way I speak,” Diffey continued. “I can’t choose the way I speak, nor can any of them. We are who we are. We’re all different for a reason.”

Rather than getting bogged down in social media complaints, Diffey said he focuses on the positive interactions he’s had with fans at the track. He mentioned meeting “wonderful fans” at Watkins Glen and said his approach is to “take the positives and plow on.”

The 54-year-old broadcaster has been calling races across multiple countries and series for decades. He became a U.S. citizen in 2011 and has been part of NBC’s motorsports coverage since well before taking over NASCAR duties. His credentials aren’t the problem here — his accent apparently is, which says more about the critics than it does about him.

When told that at least the critics are focusing on his accent rather than his actual work, Diffey seemed to take it in stride. “For that reason, it washes off,” he said.

Diffey knows the sport, prepares thoroughly, and brings energy to the broadcast. If the biggest complaint about him is that he sounds Australian, maybe that says more about NASCAR fans than it does about the quality of his work.