Many in the CrossFit community are trying to distance themselves from the brand’s CEO after he posted a controversial tweet that was considered by many to be tone-deaf and dismissive of racial issues.
While social distancing has kept gym-goers a little farther apart lately, at CrossFit Siege in Miramar, the message is one of unity and solidarity. And they want to make that clear, given the recent Twitter comments made by CrossFit’s founder and CEO Greg Glassman over the weekend.
“As a community, we were all outraged that he would go out ... and have such a lack of feel and sensitivity for the situation,” said CrossFit Siege owner Adrien Tapia.
Glassman appeared to make light of the protests for George Floyd when he tweeted “Floyd-19” in response to a post by The Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation that said, “racism is a public health issue.”
Glassman followed up with, “your failed model quarantined us and now you’re going to model a solution to racism?”
“We do not support anything that he said," said Tapia. “We do not stand behind it, which is why we released that statement last night.”
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A growing number of CrossFit gym affiliate owners, like Tapia, are taking a public stance against the comments. Tapia posted a long response on his gym’s Instagram page, making it clear to his members that they do not stand with the CEO.
“It’s good to see our owner take a stance and support his members and everyone that comes here on an everyday basis,” said member Frank Sousa.
Glassman later posted a string of apology tweets saying that he nor the company will stand for racism. He said, “I made a mistake by the words I chose. My heart is deeply saddened by the pain it has caused. It was a mistake, not racist but a mistake.”
Not only has it cost the company major partnerships like Reebok, but some gym owners, Tapia included, are even considering whether to drop their CrossFit affiliation.
“I think there’s more that needs to be done from an organizational standpoint. I don’t know what that is exactly, but there needs to be major change at CrossFit HQ,” said Tapia.
Glassman tried to further clarify his comments saying that he was trying to “stick it” to the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation for what he called their “invalidated models” and the “needless, economy wrecking” lockdown.
