CrossFit saw several of its food and beverage brand partners end their affiliation with the fitness brand over the last 24 hours in response to a tweet by founder and CEO Greg Glassman about racism and public health.
Over the course of the last two weeks, many CPG brands and entrepreneurs have issued statements and taken public positions on the issue of racial justice in America as part of a national outcry sparked by the death of George Floyd, an African American man who was killed on May 25 in Minneapolis while being restrained by four city police officers making an arrest.
CrossFit is an exercise organization whose popular intense workouts and competitions have led to a variety of partnerships with food and beverage brands in recent years, both at a grassroots level in individual gyms and also as part of nationally televised events like the CrossFit Games.
On Saturday, Glassman, in reply to a tweet from the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation describing racsim and discrimination as “critical public health issues,” wrote “It’s FLOYD-19.”
He later followed with a second reply that was critical of “quarantine alone” and mocked the organization’s credibility, writing “Your failed model quarantined us and now you’re going to model a solution to racism?”
The following day on Sunday, in a series of tweets on CrossFit’s official account, Glassman qualified his original statement as “not racist but a mistake.”
“I, CrossFit HQ, and the CrossFit community will not stand for racism. I made a mistake by the words I chose yesterday,” he wrote. He continued: “My heart is deeply saddened by the pain it has caused. It was a mistake, not racist but a mistake.”
Glassman reiterated that he was “incredulous, angry, and overly emotional” when he saw the original tweet from IHME and that he was “trying to stick it to the @IHME_UW [Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation] for their invalidated models resulting in needless, economy-wrecking, life-wrecking lockdown.”
“Involving George Floyd’s name in that effort was wrong,” he wrote.
Glassman, who has a history of making controversial statements, has since had his apology questioned, having reportedly told affiliate gym owners on a conference call last week that he does “not mourn George Floyd.”
The reaction from CrossFit’s various official partners has been swift and decisive. Reebok, CrossFit’s main sponsor and apparel licensee, announced it was ending its relationship with the company, and a number of high profile professional CrossFit athletes have been critical of Glassman’s remarks. Other partners such as swimwear maker Born Primitive, a vendor at CrossFit events, and official grip partner Bear Komplex have also announced they are suspending doing business with the brand.
Meanwhile, hundreds of CrossFit affiliated gyms have terminated their relationships with the organization, a move that will result in them having to remove the term “CrossFit” from their website domains, marketing materials and company names. The move to disaffiliate from the CrossFit organization will come at an inopportune time after many gyms have been shut down for months due to the Covid-19 pandemic, snack brand Lesser Evil’s CEO Charles Coristine said. The brand had previously sponsored CrossFit workouts at tradeshow Expo West and counted elite CrossFit athlete Lauren Fisher as a brand ambassador.
“At a time when many of these small gyms and communities were just about to come back on line they now have to deal with a whole new set of challenges brought on by these remarks,” Coristine said. “While we won’t be supporting CrossFit-sanctioned events anymore, we will remain committed to supporting community-based fitness whenever and however we can, especially during these challenging times when we should be focusing on our health, our communities and our small businesses.”
In a video posted to his personal Instagram account on Sunday, LifeAID co-founder and president Aaron Hinde announced that the company had “made the tough decision to end our long-standing partnership as a sponsor of the CrossFit games.”
“When I woke up this morning I read a tweet by the founder of CrossFit that was insensitive and in poor taste,” Hinde said in the clip. “As I discussed the tweet with my business partner and other members of our team, it became very clear we weren’t in alignment with CrossFit HQ.”
Hinde added that he was “beyond thankful to the thousands and thousands of affiliates, the athletes, [and] members of this incredible, incredible community.”
Hinde confirmed in an email that LifeAID spoke with its point of contact at CrossFit, as well as “many affiliate owners, community members, and members of our team,” prior to making the decision to terminate its contract, effective immediately, as the official recovery drink of CrossFit for the 2020 season.
“We are a principled company and will continue to do what we believe is right even if it’s not popular or in our financial interests,” he said.
O2 Recovery Drink, a oxygen-infused sports drink with strong ties to the CrossFit community, issued a response distancing itself from Glassman’s remarks on Instagram while also defending independent gym affiliates. The company cited a recent $10,000 donation to Steve’s Club, a fitness and mentorship program for at-risk youth in urban areas, of which the “vast majority” came from 242 gym owners contributing their portion of O2’s profit sharing initiative. It also announced it will be donating 100% of profits from direct sales to the NAACP on June 19th, Juneteenth.
“We do not believe in divisiveness, as illustrated by the recent remarks of CrossFit’s CEO, nor do we feel that’s representative of our community’s true leaders – our gym owners,” read the post.
In an emailed statement, Peter Maldonado, co-founder and CEO of meat snack brand CHOMPS, said that the company, which has participated in the CrossFit Games for years, will not exhibit at the games as long as Glassman remains as CEO.
“The idea of Chomps started in a CrossFit box – it’s where we launched and how we were able to initially grow our brand following. Because of our roots with CrossFit, we are extremely saddened and disappointed at the insensitive comments made by Greg Glassman,” Maldonado said. “We are in no way aligned with these comments and do not stand behind the mentality reflected.”
Melissa Urban, the founder of the Whole30 movement — which often aligns itself with the same community base and counts CrossFit gyms as “nutrition partners” and CrossFit athletes as Whole30 coaches – last week encouraged the organization to take a stand in support of the Black Live Matter movement, asking on Instagram why they were “still silent?”
In response, she said, a follower sent her the Glassman tweet.
Urban formerly ran her own CrossFit affiliated gym and has taught several CrossFit training programs. She acknowledged that her own Whole30 organization “has not always been doing this work” nor always “doing this work well,” with regard to racial inequality, but said she hopes that this experience will inspire the CrossFit organization to learn and grow. She advised the food and beverage brands associated with Whole30 to speak up and express their displeasure with Glassman’s posts.
“As a brand that has been lending your voice to CrossFit it is important for your audience and your community to understand where you stand on Mr. Glassman’s recent remarks,” Urban said. “Let your community know that you will be watching and that if you are going to continue your alignment and partnership, you expect real action and significant change.”