CrossFit, the cult-like fitness brand, has fired Russell Berger, one of its top executives, after he made comments on Twitter which have been branded homophobic. The company announced the firing in a tweet.
On Wednesday afternoon, Berger, who describes himself as “chief knowledge officer” in his Twitter profile but who CrossFit says was a “legal researcher” for the brand, tweeted his support for the owners of CrossFit Infiltrate, a CrossFit affiliate in Indianapolis, Indiana, which had cancelled a Pride-themed workout.
The class had been organized by coaches at the gym to celebrate Indy Pride, which takes place in Indiana this weekend. However, it was cancelled by the gym’s management, who sent out an email saying: “We believe that true health forever can only be found within humility – not pride.” A number of members and staffers subsequently quit the gym in protest.
Berger, who is also a pastor at a local church, then tweeted in support of the owners, saying he believed celebrating pride “is a sin” and praising CrossFit Infiltrate for “standing by their convictions”. He further tweeted: “The tactics of some in the LGBTQ movement toward dissent is an existential threat to freedom of expression.”
After Berger’s tweets, which have since been deleted, began to go viral the CrossFit official account went into damage control, stating that the company was “crazy proud of the gay community in CrossFit”.
“I am crazy proud of the gay community in CrossFit.”
— CrossFit (@CrossFit) June 6, 2018
-@CrossFitCEO
Shortly after, CrossFit announced that Berger had been fired. In an interview with BuzzFeed, the CrossFit CEO, Greg Glassman, said that Berger “needs to take a big dose of ‘shut the fuck up’ and hide out for a while”.
The statements made today by Russell Berger do not reflect the views of CrossFit Inc. For this reason, his employment with CrossFit has been terminated.
— CrossFit (@CrossFit) June 6, 2018
CrossFit Infiltrate, the gym which cancelled the Pride class, has also been closed, less than 24 hours after it first cancelled the workout. A note left on the door said they would “no longer operate” at the current location.
