TAMPA, Fla. — Taylar Stallings normally lets her athletic accomplishments do the talking, but not anymore.
“This isn’t an anti-cop thing. It’s just anti-racism. Just bring more awareness out there to different experiences of the African-American community," said Stallings.
Stallings is a trainer at Tern CrossFit in Westchase, but soon these signs will be changed to Tern Fitness.
Hundreds of other gym owners around the country are cutting ties with CrossFit. This all comes after CEO Greg Glassman’s recent Twitter response to a tweet about racism being a public health issue.
Glassman tweeted “It’s FLOYD-19”
"That does not line up with our morals here. I think what’s the nicest thing about CrossFit and the community we have here is people from all walks of life are welcome here," said Tern Fitness owner Vishal Cabral.
Glassman apologized on Twitter saying his comments were not racist, but a mistake. But at a very sensitive time in America, the damage is done.
On Tuesday, Glassman stepped down and retired from the CrossFit Inc. company. You can read his full statement here.
“What the community is doing right now is what the community is about, it’s coming together saying we are not standing for this," said Stallings.
Fortitude Fitness in Odessa says they are worried about what would happen to their business without the insurance and marketing power that comes with CrossFit affiliation.
They aren’t rushing to cut ties, however, they stand against Glassman's words.
“Our gym is bigger than Greg Glassman in my opinion, for us. And our members know us. They don’t even know who Greg Glassman is," said Fortitude Fitness owner Joe Minichino.
"I’m not going to give CrossFit another penny until something major happens as far as a full-on leadership change. That’s when maybe we’ll consider coming back. But I don’t feel right paying money to something I don’t believe in," said Cabral.
Reebok and other companies have already cut ties with CrossFit and the company could be out hundreds of millions of dollars in lost revenue.
