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Indianapolis gym cuts ties with ‘CrossFit’ brand

INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) – After eight years in business, CrossFit Naptown has made the decision to cut ties with the CrossFit brand. The change comes after CrossFit founder George Glassman sent out a tweet that many describe as racist. 

Glassman responded to a tweet put out by Health Metrics and Evaluation that read “racism is a public health issue.” Glassman’s reply “It’s Floyd-19.” 

That tweet surfaced Saturday, CrossFit Naptown’s owners announced the name change Monday. The gym will now officially be called ‘Naptown Fitness.’ 

Coach and chief experience officer Anna Rode said she wanted Glassman to apologize before a name change had to happen.

“We wanted to give HQ the opportunity to make amends, to have a strong stance against what the founder said and make a change in leadership and that didn’t happen and that made the decision easy.” 

Glassman has since apologized but not on his personal account. He used the official CrossFit page to say “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.” 

Rode said so far there has been no backlash from gym members, most have told her they support the decision.

Several class names will change along with the gym’s new name however, the staff at Naptown Fitness said the workouts will stay the same.

Amanda Friesen has been a member of the gym for eight years, she said she is proud of the decision to cut ties. 

“The moment I read what Greg Glassman said and what he wrote to some of the affiliates, I knew that Peter and Jared and Shannon were going to have a response and I knew what that response would be and I knew it would be this one.”