Several CrossFit gyms have severed their affiliation with the brand following a series of controversial Tweets from the company’s founder and longtime CEO Greg Glassman.
On Saturday, the research firm Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation tweeted: “Racism is a public health issue.”
Glassman replied on his Twitter feed: “It’s FLOYD-19,” a reference both to COVID-19 and George Floyd, who died May 25 after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed a knee into his neck for nearly nine minutes. The incident, captured on video, sparked worldwide protests calling for an end to police brutality and wider systemic racism. Four Minneapolis officers were arrested in his death.
Glassman’s Tweets sparked a backlash online, which only gathered intensity after Buzz Feed News reported a private Zoom call hours before the controversial Tweets, in which Glassman told employees “We're not mourning for George Floyd — I don't think me or any of my staff are.”
On Tuesday, June 9, Glassman announced he had decided to “retire” from his position.The string of incidents has provoked several gyms across the world to sever their relationships with the CrossFit brand, including at least two in the Tri-Cities.
Should Burnaby CrossFit gyms be following suit? Yes, yes they should. This was a despicable thing to tweet and Burnaby gyms should stay as far away from the founder as possible.
Gyms are already alienating enough for average folks looking for a welcoming place to exercise.
CrossFit, an exercise brand that incorporates movements such as high-intensity interval training, Olympic weightlifting and power lifting, was founded by Glassman and Lauren Jenai in 2000 in Santa Cruz, California.
Gyms pay an annual affiliate fee on a sliding scale depending on the year a gym signed up. The affiliation fee for Canadian gyms was $4,068 this year ($4,455 in Quebec).
Affiliation allows use of the CrossFit name, advertising benefits and inclusion in the CrossFit Open, a competition for gyms worldwide that is the first qualifier for the global CrossFit Games. Since 2013, the Tri-Cities have hosted the CanWest Games, a qualifying event held at Coquitlam’s Percy Perry Stadium that by 2018 claimed to be the largest functional fitness event in Canadian history.
Even before Glassman’s Tweets, at least one Port Moody gym claims CrossFit has had a problem addressing diversity for years.
A day before the Glassman’s comments, Port Moody’s Engineered Bodies released a statement condemning CrossFit as one of the organizations that have “remained silent” as protests raged.
“To be silent in the face of racism and discrimination, is to be complicit,” they wrote, before declaring they would be ending their affiliation with the company.
“We were the first ones in the Lower Mainland,” said Anthony Agtarap, owner of Engineered Bodies. “That was prior to everyone else jumping ship.”
Within days, Rocky Point CrossFit wrote in a statement that Glassman’s “deplorable comments” against the current movement to end systematic racism and police brutality made their decision “easy to make.”
“Black lives matter!” wrote the company’s operators before noting they will be severing their affiliation with CrossFit while changing “very little” at the gym.
But that hasn’t prevented local gyms from taking a stand against the CrossFit and its corporate headquarters.
Just how many gyms across Canada and the world have ended their relationship with CrossFit is not clear. One gym has estimated roughly 1,200 have severed ties with the brand, less than 10% of the nearly 15,000 CrossFit gyms worldwide.
Still, the movement is just gaining steam, and gyms are already moving to be more proactive in addressing access to the sport for the Lower Mainland’s Black and Indigenous communities.
Many Burnaby gyms would be wise to follow suit.
- With files from Stefan Labbe, Tri-City News
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
