876 discontinues affiliation with Crossfit

Jair Lyons, the operator of Jamaican fitness company 876 CrossFit, has discontinued his affiliation with parent company CrossFit, after the company’s CEO posted a tweet making light of George Floyd’s death.

Floyd, an African American man, died while in police custody, after a white police officer knelt on his neck for close to 10 minutes, sparking protests right across the globe.

In a response to a public health body saying that racism is a public health issue, Greg Glassman, the founder of CrossFit, tweeted “Floyd 19”.

The tweet has caused brands worldwide to cut ties with CrossFit, including Lyons’ gym that will now be called Fitness 876.

“He has lost touch with what is going on right now. He has promoted CrossFit as this community-driven organisation that is inclusive, so it is a little bit of hypocrisy for him to not respond properly with what is going on,” Lyons told The Gleaner yesterday. “He talked about inclusiveness when we are at these functions and we have done that, but we would like to see the leader of the larger community have a say in this matter.”

He continued: “I’m not saying that he has to be anti-racist, but he has to have a say; and then he was asked and his response was undesirable.”

RESPONSE

When an operator of one of the CrossFit affiliates asked Glassman to respond to the protests around the killing of Floyd, this is what he said.

“I sincerely believe the quarantine has adversely impacted your mental health,” he reportedly wrote to the woman, before calling her ‘delusional’. “You think you’re more virtuous than we are. It’s disgusting.”

Lyons said that because of the coronavirus pandemic, he has not been able to able to renew his affiliate contract which ran out in May.

“It worked out in our favour because if we had re-affiliated with CrossFit, then it would have cost me a lot of money, and it saved me the trouble of going back and letting them know that I am no longer with them,” he explained.

Reebok has issued a statement confirming that it has also ended it’s affiliate with CrossFit.

CrossFit is a company based on a fitness regimen developed by Glassman, and is incorporated into gyms across the world.

These gyms are run on an affiliate model, paying the main CrossFit company for permission to use the name and regimen.