Local gym drops CrossFit affiliation following George Floyd controversy - SooToday

One of Ontario's first CrossFit affiliate gyms has cut ties with the Washington D.C.-based fitness brand, following controversial statements attributed to CrossFit founder Greg Glassman about George Floyd and the Black Lives Matter protests.

"We're only changing the sign out front, that's it," says Chris Cooper, owner of Sault Ste. Marie's Catalyst Fitness.

Cooper isn't saying much about the reasons for his disaffiliation from CrossFit.

He continues to run Two-Brain Business, a membership platform providing business advice to more than 850 CrossFit gyms worldwide.

But he and many other CrossFit operators disaffiliated this week following a two-word tweet by Glassman.

Responding to a statement from the Institute of Health Metrics and Evaluation that said "racism is a public health issue," Glassman replied "It's Floyd-19."

In just two words, the Crossfit chief executive officer had managed to mix two incendiary issues: the COVID-19 pandemic and George Floyd, whose death two weeks ago at the hands of Minneapolis police officers resulted in global protests.

Glassman has since apologized, but it was too little, too late.

Tuesday evening, he announced his resignation, admitting he had caused "a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members."

Buzzfeed News reported Tuesday it had obtained a full recording of a private Zoom meeting in which Glassman told gym owners: “We're not mourning for George Floyd – I don't think me or any of my staff are."

"It's a personal decision," Cooper tells SooToday. "No past indications of anything or history of discrimination in the brand."

"Please don't infer anything about CrossFit.com or its founder from my post," Cooper said.

"I'm not going to comment on the reasons one way or another."

"I have to be as diplomatic as possible. Some will choose to de-affiliate, some won't."

"It's a weird situation. CrossFit affiliates are licensees [with] zero restrictions on use of the term. But I also work with hundreds of his licensees."

In a social media post, Cooper said he first become aware of CrossFit in 2007.

"We set out to prove that it didn't work. But it did. Our clients got amazing results. So we became an affiliate - one of the first in Ontario."

"Then I got hired to work for CrossFit as a writer. I went to Kenya and St. Jude. I saw the good work there. I learned. For awhile, I was enamored with the brand and the method. But that didn't last."

By two years ago, Cooper wanted out

"I was ready to deaffiliate. But I couldn't separate the method from the brand. And I thought that I could help other gym owners more from the inside than from the outside, so I stayed."

"Microgym owners have just proven their value to the world. They helped clients get through COVID while the big chains locked down. They're providing spaces for unity and equality while the CrossFit brand is not."

"It's time to tell a new story," he said. "I hope you'll tell it with me."

Reebok has announced it won't renew a lucrative 10-year partnership with CrossFit.

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2020-06-10 03:44:18Z
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