[imagesource: CrossFit Inc.]

On Wednesday, we linked to a New York Times article detailing how CrossFit founder Greg Glassman had managed to spin the company into a PR nightmare in just a matter of days.

In case you glossed over that one, Glassman stepped down as the company’s CEO after a combination of tweets and a leaked Zoom call, which took place on June 6, just hours before he took to social media.

On that private, 75-minute Zoom call, Glassman raised a number of unfounded conspiracy theories related to George Floyd’s murder, as well as the origins of the coronavirus pandemic.

Here’s some of that call, and further background:

Days before resigning, CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman told gym owners on a video call he wasn’t mourning George Floyd.

CNN has obtained audio of the call, where Glassman also claimed Floyd’s death “had nothing to do with race.” https://t.co/78hz7uGPIv pic.twitter.com/04WaToAUBe

— CNN International (@cnni) June 11, 2020

There’s a great deal to unpack there, but saying Floyd’s death “had nothing to do with race” is ignorant at best.

You can find more details from that Zoom call here.

As the fallout continued, reports the Guardian, the company took steps to try and mitigate the PR damage:

On 9 June, CrossFit headquarters published a letter titled “Why didn’t CrossFit just say something?”

In the letter it stated: “Greg’s statements were incredibly insensitive and hurtful. Please accept our deepest apology … This team is anti-racist. Therefore, we are committed to scrutinizing ourselves internally, continuing to listen to the community, and taking actions in support of change.”

Glassman’s exit has been spun as a retirement in a statement on the CrossFit website, and he will be replaced by Dave Castro.

To think, all he had to do was show some basic empathy for a man who was murdered in broad daylight, whilst crying out that he could not breathe.

[source:guardian]