CrossFit CEO Eric Roza: ‘Black lives matter, absolutely. Brown lives matter, absolutely.’

Roza, who takes over from disgraced founder Greg Glassman, delivers a definitive statement in his first interview

The tech founder looks to reenergise the company after it was brought to its knees by controversy

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Eric Roza, left, has delivered the company’s first statement on ‘Black Lives Matter’ since taking over from founder Greg Glassman. Photo: Eric Roza/Facebook

Published: 3:05pm, 20 Aug 2020Updated: 3:23pm, 20 Aug 2020

In his first interview as the new co-owner and CEO of CrossFit, Eric Roza delivered a definitive statement on the race relations issue that nearly derailed the company.

“Black lives matter, absolutely. Brown lives matter, absolutely,” he told CNN. “It's core to everything I believe as a person. Racism, sexism are absolutely abhorrent. We're not going to tolerate them within CrossFit.”

Roza purchased the company along with Boston investment firm Berkshire Partners from its founder and former CEO Greg Glassman. In June, Glassman tweeted “It’s FLOYD 19” in response to an Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation that declared racism a public health emergency.

Glassman’s character was further brought into question via leaked emails with affiliate owners, and allegations that he created a toxic and sexist workplace culture at CrossFit. Roza told CNN that Glassman’s comments created a sense of “cognitive dissonance” for CrossFitters around the world.

“We knew that CrossFit, at its best, was about as inclusive as anything we’d seen,” he said. “We knew that hierarchies get stripped away in the gym and everyone is accepted there.”

The issue was further compounded by a leaked audio recording where Glassman allegedly said that CrossFit’s employees “were not mourning for George Floyd”.