A devoted Donald Trump fan was thrown out of a Crunch Fitness in Madison, Wisconsin, after cops said he “screamed and cursed” at other members trying to work out, but the aggrieved member – who is now suing the chain – believes his banishment stems from the Trump hat he sometimes donned while there.
Michael Green filed a federal lawsuit against Fitness Ventures, LLC, a Crunch franchisee with locations in 27 U.S. states, claiming he was discriminated against for being a Trump supporter – not for causing a disturbance, as a police report obtained by The Independent shows.
“I still don't understand exactly what happened, but I'm thinking someone at the gym had a perceived issue with me and decided to weaponize the police against me,” Green’s March 31 complaint states. “I had been wearing a pro-Trump hat during prior gym visits but stopped due to the stares I would get from staff and members… Perhaps it was some kind of retaliation for being a Trump supporter, even worse a [B]lack Trump supporter in Dane County.”
Green, 42, believes Crunch violated the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by “engaging in discriminatory practices” against him. He is seeking $75,000 for his alleged troubles, writing in his self-filed complaint, “$75,000 is enough that may provide a deterrent from similar behavior in the future.”
Two weeks before filing suit against Crunch, Green sued another Madison health club over similar allegations, again representing himself pro se, claiming he had been discriminated against for “show[ing] my support of our president by wearing different types of Trump apparel such as hats, book bags, tee shirts, etc.” He was also removed from that gym by police for allegedly harassing the manager, a Democrat, over her political leanings.
In a phone call on Wednesday, Green told The Independent that the hat in question at Crunch read: “Trump 2024.”
“I had stopped wearing it, but they had already pegged me as a Trump guy,” Green said.
Over the course of 40 minutes, Green, who said he voted for Trump in 2024, railed against DEI initiatives, the transgender community, and the “liberals” he insisted were responsible for pushing him into the president’s arms.
“I’m not a cult follower, it’s just living in that area, them telling me that he’s bad… that made me say, ‘OK, well, I’m gonna vote for him then,’” Green said.
Fitness Ventures, LLC executives did not respond to requests for comment.
Green’s beef stems from an encounter at Crunch on March 30, according to his complaint. While there, his complaint states, he “was approached by a staff member and two Madison Police officers.”
“The staff member said that I was being ‘aggressive’ to gym members,” Green’s complaint goes on. “I still have no clue what exactly is going on, the staff member was extremely vague. I was drenched in sweat so I asked If I could use the shower before I left, the staff member told me I could not so I went into the locker room to change clothes as quickly as I could.”
Upon leaving the locker room, Green “was confronted by 6-10 madison [sic] police officers,” his complaint continues. “I asked them what was going on, they explained they were called to make sure I left the premises. I left as instructed.”
Once he was out of the building, Green realized he had forgotten some of his belongings at the gym, his complaint says. So, as cops were still on the scene, Green called Crunch and asked a staffer to give his things to the officers so he could get them back, according to the complaint.
But, it says, the police soon left, and the Crunch employee told Green to meet him at the gym entrance to pick up his stuff.
“While walking towards the gym I flagged down a Madison Police officer and asked them If they could get my items instead of me approaching the gym,” Green’s complaint states. “[T]he officer agreed.”
Green then called the gym to tell the staff member that police would be coming back instead of him, according to his complaint. During that call, Green complained about the “vulgar, racist, stereotyping rap music” Crunch plays, which, the complaint asserts, “paints African-Americans in a fictional[,] terrible light.”
The staffer followed up by denigrating Black people, to which Green responded with a homophobic slur, says the complaint.
Green sued the next day. To him, the banishment from Crunch was tied directly to his Trump headwear, Green said on Wednesday.
However, an incident report shared with The Independent by a Madison Police Department spokeswoman tells a different story. Officers were dispatched on March 30 to Crunch after an employee called the cops about a gym member – Green – who was allegedly “causing a disturbance,” and asked to have police standing by when staffers ejected him, according to the report.
Green reportedly had “approached other gym members and screamed and cursed at them” because he wanted to use their exercise equipment, the report states. It says these members asked the manager to have Green removed, but did not wish to press charges against him.
According to the incident report, only two officers responded to the call, not the half-dozen or more mentioned in Green’s complaint. They escorted Green to the locker room and stood outside as he gathered his belongings, the report explains. The officers instructed Green not to return to Crunch for the remainder of the day, after which Green was seen walking away toward a nearby mall, according to the report.
“The case is closed on our end,” the Madison police spokeswoman told The Independent.
Last month, a woman claimed she had been kicked out of an Indianapolis bar for wearing a MAGA hat; the bar said she had been harassing an employee. Last year, two women were removed from a British Airways flight after trading punches over a Trump hat one was wearing. Things have also gone the other way for people sporting Trump merch – in October, former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell claimed to have gotten out of a speeding ticket thanks to a cop who spotted his MAGA hat and let him go.
In his complaint, Green declares Dane County, where Madison is located, to be “extremely liberal,” and derides its residents as biased against those on the right.
“The anger I feel about this can only be overshadowed by an overall sense of sadness,” Green’s complaint concludes. ‘I don't believe this to be a Crunch or Fitness Venture issue as it's more a Dane County issue.”
Dane County is not named as a defendant in Green’s suit.
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