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Hundreds of CrossFit gyms, including at least a half dozen in New Jersey, disaffiliated early this week over comments founder and chief executive Greg Glassman made on Twitter.

In response to a June 4 tweet by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that read: “Racism and discrimination are critical public health issues that demand an urgent response, wherever they occur. #BlackLivesMatter,” Glassman tweeted “FLOYD-19,” an obvious reference to George Floyd, an unarmed black man who was killed by four Minneapolis police officers on May 25, and whose killing has sparked protests worldwide against police brutality.

Glassman’s email response to a nine-year CrossFit affiliate owner Alyssa Royse’s request that he and the organization take a stand on the Black Lives Matter movement also garnered attention from media outlets like fitness-focused Morning Chalk Up, as Glassman called Royse both “delusional” and “a shitty person.”

In her email, titled “CrossFit in the time of COVID and BLM,” Royse told Glassman that CrossFit leadership has been absent during the COVID-19 pandemic, writing “The absence of real leadership didn’t matter much when the world wasn’t in crisis. But it matters now, a lot,” and that CrossFit was the only major brand she could think of that didn’t “take a stand, make a statement, show support for social justice in general and [Black] lives in specific.”

Word spread fast in CrossFit’s community of owners, athletes, affiliate brands, and fans. By Monday, nearly 400 CrossFit affiliates worldwide publicly stated they had ended their affiliation, or that they would if Glassman didn’t resign.

Iron Strong Athletics in North Brunswick, PowerPack Fitness in Atlantic Highlands, Mission Fitness in Livingston, 908 Athletics in Berkeley Heights, Motives Movements in Millstone, and CrossFit Speakeasy in Belmar all announced separately that they would move forward with disaffiliation.

“We saw [Glassman’s response to Royse] and right away said ‘how are you a millionaire, you started this, and that’s how you’re gonna speak to someone?’ And after he did the Floyd-19 remark, we were like, this isn’t something we want to be associated with. This isn’t what Iron’s about,” said Danielle Fraser, owner of Iron Strong Athletics, which had associated under the moniker Iron Strong CrossFit for over seven years until Sunday.

Fraser and husband and co-owner Joe had recently finished renovations at their North Brunswick gym, a project they undertook during the COVID-19-induced shut down that kept gyms around the state and country shut for nearly three months. They hosted a virtual charity workout in honor of George Floyd on Friday, raising $1,800 for the Official George Floyd Memorial Fund, and their first day back with members was Saturday. The next day, they had to take down the new Iron Strong CrossFit decals they’d placed all over their walls. Now, they have to redo their website and the shirts they sell.

The CrossFit name is how Iron Strong and others built their business up. Frank Delaney, owner of Power Pack Athletics, formerly Power Pack CrossFit, said the CrossFit name is originally what brought people through his doors five years ago. But now, Delaney said, he can’t continue to pay the man who is “not on the same side as us.” CrossFit affiliates pay $3,000 per year to use the CrossFit name and use CrossFit programming if they want to. Iron had just re-upped its affiliation in April. But Fraser said disaffiliating is “worth it. We can’t have our name associated with something we don’t agree with.”

It was almost like he was making a joke of it and didn’t care. What he said was so insensitive. You have to realize where we’re at in history.
— Frank Delaney, owner of Power Pack Athletics, formerly Power Pack CrossFit

Gyms around the state lost members during the mandated COVID-19 shutdowns as many members cut costs, affected by layoffs and furloughs. Power Pack had gone from 156 members to 118, and Iron Strong had gone from 230 to 200. With outdoor, socially distant workouts starting up, numbers are rising—Power Pack is up to 142, and Fraser said Iron Strong’s members are returning—the gym owners were worried about how their members would feel about disaffiliating.

“The only backlash I was worried about was from my membership and I reached out to them first before I made a public announcement,” Delaney said. “My coaching staff was all on board, and the first responder membership we have – about 50 percent of our membership is first responders, nurses and such – they gave me [confidence in my decision] to do it, and we put it out on Facebook, and usually we get like 100 likes on post. We have 200-some and so many comments. Not that it’s about that, but it made me realize I did the right thing for my gym.”

Still, Fraser notes that disaffiliating is bittersweet, as CrossFit changed her life and many others. It’s how she met Joe, and how some of her members have managed weight loss and anxiety.

“Even just writing that email, it’s sad. But now it’s Iron Strong Athletics, and we’ll do better,” Fraser said.

On Sunday, the day after his initial tweet, Glassman attempted to clarify his original intention by questioning IHME: “Your failed model quarantined us and now you’re going to model a solution to racism?”

By later that day, he released an official apology on CrossFit HQ Twitter:

“I, CrossFit HQ, and the CrossFit community will not stand for racism. I made a mistake by the words I chose yesterday. My heart is deeply saddened by the pain it has caused. It was a mistake, not racist but a mistake.

Floyd is a hero in the black community and not just a victim. I should have been sensitive to that and wasn’t. I apologize for that. I was trying to stick it to the [IHME] for their invalidated models resulting in needless, economy-wrecking, life-wrecking lockdown, and when I saw they were announcing modeling a solution to our racial crisis, I was incredulous, angry, and overly emotional. Involving George Floyd’s name in that effort was wrong.

It’s our hope that his murder catalyzes real change resulting in a level playing field for our black brothers and sisters.

Please hear me when I say, we stand by our community to fight for justice. I care about you, our community, and I am here for you.”

Delaney said he would consider reaffiliating in the future if Glassman resigned and was replaced by someone he could get behind.

But for now, in response to Glassman’s original tweet, he said, “It was almost like he was making a joke of it and didn’t care. What he said was so insensitive. You have to realize where we’re at in history.”