Greg Glassman, founder and now former CEO of CrossFit, resigned Tuesday, days after he made controversial remarks in a private zoom conference and on Twitter about the worldwide protests in support of George Floyd and Black Lives Matter. Athletes, gyms, Reebok and other athletic companies have cut times with the brand because of Glassman’s comments.
Glassman told gym owners on a private Zoom call, “We’re not mourning for George Floyd — I don’t think me or any of my staff are,” according to a full recording of the meeting obtained by BuzzFeed News.
“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 asked a Minneapolis gym owner who had questioned why the brand hadn’t posted a statement about the protests across the country after the death of George Floyd.
According to NPR, members of the CrossFit community asked Glassman and the company to issue anti-racist statements in support of Black Lives Matter but he declined and called an affiliate gym owner “delusional” in an email for her suggestion.
Then, when the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation tweeted that racism is a “public health issue,” Glassman replied, “It’s Floyd-19,” apparently comparing the death of George Floyd to the coronavirus. Armen Hammer, a popular CrossFit commentator, said the tweet was “incredibly inflammatory, insensitive and thoughtless.”
After receiving much backlash from his tweets, Glassman announced that he was stepping down.
“I’m stepping down as CEO of CrossFit, Inc., and I have decided to retire,” Glassman said in a statement. “On Saturday I created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members.”
Dave Castro, head of the CrossFit Games, is taking over as CEO.
In a separate statement, the company said: “Change is needed. We all need healing. Exhaustion and a long history of silent grievances have been laid bare on social media. We cannot change what has happened, but we ask for forgiveness while we thoroughly examine ourselves.”
CrossFit generates around $4 Billion a year in revenue.
