08 Jun BLM, AFFILIATION & GLASSMAN

This past weekend, a movement to disaffiliate with CFHQ was sparked by a tweet thread between Greg Glassman and the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation at the University of Washington, with Greg tweeting “Floyd-19”, which was then further propagated by the posting of an email response he had with Rocket CrossFit in Seattle. There is plenty online trending, here is the BBC’s Reporting of the happenings, issued this morning. 

The latest count of disaffiliating boxes stands at about 383 out of 15,000 affiliates worldwide.  We have affiliates in San Francisco disaffiliating and one specific affiliate publicly calling on us to disaffiliate and rebrand with them.  We have athletes contacting us directly letting us know they want nothing to do with Greg Glassman and his brand and pledging their support of our business without the CrossFit name.

Thank you to our community for speaking up.  We are not at all in agreement with the statements and actions of Greg Glassman.  They reflect the broader, systemic issues with racism in America. 

Last week, I sent a community update that included the following statement: “From our inception, we invited athletes into our community to explore what CrossFit means to them.  For me, it has meant pushing the boundaries of what I thought was possible, and in the process failing along the way, failing many times, defining my success through my persistence to not give up, to try again and again, and believe that a better version of myself was possible.  This remains true for me today.  How can I be a better contributor to what the world needs? Where have I failed?  What do I need to try to be better at? Will I show up and do it?” These questions could not be more relevant this week.  

Disaffiliation feels really, really good as a means of sending a message, and then tucking away into our own San Francisco bubble and doing our own thing feels really comfortable.  This would leave the Greg Glassman’s of the world continuing without any meaningful change. Soliciting him, and other leaders like him, and CFHQ for meaningful reform can be impactful.

Greg is not CrossFit.  We are CrossFit.  Our affiliation dues will NOT go to support a racist, intolerant, or racially indifferent enterprise, so the payment of our license renewal will be contingent upon meaningful action taken by CrossFit HQ, outlined as followed, but not limited to:

1) Removing Greg Glassman as CEO 

2) Replace him with a forward thinking CEO who recognizes the need for not just diversity in gender and skin color, but also in thought, culture, religion, education, socio-economic status, and sexual-orientation.   

3) A measurable and repeatable effort to increase diversity among CrossFit Inc. staff, leadership, and amongst seminar staff.

We will not support CrossFit HQ until these changes have been made.