Wilmington gym drops affiliation with CrossFit after CEO’s controversial tweet

WILMINGTON, N.C. (WECT) - CrossFit gyms nationwide are cutting ties with CrossFit after the CEO posted a controversial tweet about George Floyd.

Greg Glassman, founder and CEO of CrossFit, responded to a tweet that read, “Racism is a public health issue.” Glassman responded, “It’s FLOYD-19.”

Monkey Junction Community Fitness (MJCF), formerly known as Monkey Junction CrossFit, said in a Facebook post Monday that they not only disagreed with Glassman’s statements, but they were disappointed at the silence on the recent matters in our country.

Jennifer Nau, the owner of MJCF, said they have decided to cut ties with CrossFit.

“The CrossFit name does attract people, especially new people into town," said Nau. "It is strong marketing, but at this point, I think the marketing is more negative than positive. So I think what we’ve created here is strong enough to go ahead, pull that from our name, put community into our name, which is what our core value is anyways, and just move forward.”

Nau says the leadership with CrossFit has been unstable for a while now.

“For me, this was just a very clear picture," said Nau. "Do I want to align myself with unstable leadership? Do I want to align myself with somebody that is speaking hatefully to others? And I just decided that it’s not worth it to me.”

She said it’s already been a tough couple of months with the fear of the coronavirus closing the doors to the gym and now her, and other CrossFit gym owners, are stuck dealing with the mess.

“In regards to the global pandemic, I would have appreciated some leadership and it was very quiet on that front and with the racism, they were very quiet," said Nau. "They were even being called out by their athletes and others to make a stand and they said it was not their place in business. And that was really disappointing Because I think that this is a humanity issue. This isn’t a controversial topic that you can decide to opt out of.”

Nau says the partnership with CrossFit and her gym will be official come August; that’s when their contract is up.

CrossFit Wilmington said in a Facebook post Monday morning, “Our future with CrossFit inc. is uncertain right now.”

CrossFit Reignited has gyms in Leland, Hampstead, and Wilmington. They made a Facebook post that says they do not support the statements made by Glassman.

All of this led to Reebok ending their contract with CrossFit. In a statement to Footwear News, Reebok said they had been in discussion with CrossFit to sign a new agreement, but in light of recent events, they made a decision to end their partnership.

Glassman tweeted an apology on Sunday.

CrossFit announced Glassman’s retirement on Twitter, Tuesday evening,

Click here to read the full statement from CrossFit.

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