CrossFit CEO Quickly 'Retires' After Racist Zoom Call Leaks

Greg Glassman, founder and CEO of Crossfit, is stepping down after several days of putting anti-black sentiments on full display. On Monday, after Glassman issued a racist tweet about George Floyd and covid-19, Reebok, CrossFit’s biggest sponsor, dropped the hellish workout cult. Since then, gym owners across the country posted messages on Instagram alerting their customers that they would no longer be CrossFit affiliates with one gym donating their affiliate fee to Black Lives Matter, according to BBC.

The rebuke was swift. Glassman’s original tweet was released Saturday in response to an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation graphic that read, “Racism is a public health issue.” (Glassman responded, “It’s FLOYD-19.”) He apologized for the tweet the following day with another tweet, writing, “My heart is deeply saddened by the pain it has caused. It was a mistake, not racist but a mistake.”

But Glassman’s full racist ass was put on display when Buzzfeed News obtained a recording of a staff meeting where Glassman is heard trashing the Black Lives Matter movement, the death of George Floyd, and sharing some wildly racist conspiracy theories about the novel coronavirus.

“We’re not mourning for George Floyd — I don’t think me or any of my staff are,” Glassman said in the recording. “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.”

Not to limit his racism to black people, Glassman also shared some batshit theories on covid-19, adding, “The Chinese let this virus get out of the laboratory.” Glassman also encouraged gym owners to go against local social distancing guidelines: “I would agree to any restrictions put on me by the health authorities, and I would open my gym, and then 10 minutes later I would do whatever the fuck I wanted. That’s what I would do,” he said. According to affiliates who spoke with Buzzfeed, the meeting was held hours before Glassman sent the initial damning tweet.

The New York Times reported that when a gym owner in Minneapolis voiced her concerns about systemic racism and the lack of response from CrossFit HQ on the call, Glassman responded that the phrase has “no meaning.” “It’s really neat to have a problem that can’t be defined because then it never ends. You know, you can always wear it proudly.”

CrossFit’s prayer for the sweet release of death was somewhat answered. On Tuesday night, Glassman released a statement on CrossFit’s website saying he was, suddenly and conveniently, “retiring” after “[creating] a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally [hurting] many of its members.”

The statement did not include an apology from Glassman or any acknowledgment of the racist nature of his comments. Instead, Glassman used his final gasp of relevance to remind people that CrossFit is the way the truth and the light, “Those who know me know that my sole issue is the chronic disease epidemic. I know that CrossFit is the solution to this epidemic.” Remember kids, never get high on your own supply.