At a time when companies are falling over themselves to say “Black Lives Matter”, CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman instead made comments so fucked he was forced to step down.
Instead of simply stating the obvious, that black lives do matter, Glassman told a conference call of CrossFit gym owners that he and his staff weren’t mourning George Floyd, whose alleged murder at the hands of police sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the US and around the world.
“Can you tell me why I should mourn for him? Other than that it’s the white thing to do — other than that, give me another reason,” he said, according to BuzzFeed News.
“I think burning your city to the ground and burning a police station to the ground because a cop killed what was very likely going to be a co-conspirator in a counterfeit ring – I just don’t get the burning thing.”
Hours later, Glassman also replied to a tweet about racism being a public health problem by saying: “It’s FLOYD-19.”
https://twitter.com/CrossFitCEO/status/1269404726581288960
So far, over 1,100 gyms around the world have ditched their CrossFit affiliation in the wake of Glassman’s comments.
That includes at least 15 gyms in Australia, such as Melbourne’s CrossFit 1010 which is now Athletics 1010, and Sydney’s CrossFit Active, which is now simply called Active.
“Active does not support the recent statements made by CrossFit CEO, Greg Glassman,” the gym said on Instagram.
“As of today, Active will no longer maintain our affiliation with CrossFit.”
Reebook, sponsor of the CrossFit Games, has also ended its partnership with the fitness company.
On Wednesday morning, Glassman apologised for his comments by saying he was “not racist” and calling Floyd “a hero in the black community.” He also announced he was stepping down.
“I’m stepping down as CEO of CrossFit, Inc., and I have decided to retire,” he said in a statement.
“On Saturday I created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members.”
However, this apology may be too late to stop droves of gyms from dropping their CrossFit affiliation.
