CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman resigns over George Floyd tweet after sponsors flee and athletes boycott Games
- Greg Glassman has stepped down as CrossFit Inc. CEO following an online backlash to his ‘FLOYD-19’ tweet and subsequent apology
“I’m stepping down as CEO and have decided to retire,” Glassman wrote in an Instagram post on CrossFit’s official page on Wednesday in the US.
“On Saturday I created a rift in the CrossFit community and unintentionally hurt many of its members. Since I founded CrossFit 20 years ago, it has become the world’s largest network of gyms. All are aligned in offering an elegant solution to the vexing problem of chronic disease.”
Glassman further stated fighting chronic disease was his main goal with CrossFit and he did not directly address the tweets or emails he sent which called his leadership into question.
“I cannot let my behaviour stand in the way of HQ’s or affiliates’ mission. They are too important to jeopardise,” he said.
A Saturday post by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that declared racism a public health emergency prompted Glassman’s first tweet. He simply replied, “It’s FLOYD-19”.
He then added in another tweet: “Your failed model quarantined us and now you’re going to model a solution to racism? George Floyd’s brutal murder sparked riots nationally. Quarantine alone is ‘accompanied in every age and under all political regimes by an undercurrent of suspicion, distrust, and riots.’ Thanks!”