World News – GB – PureGym called for racism-insensitive fitness class

PureGym, a nationally popular gym chain, came under fire after their Luton and Dunstable branch announced slave-themed training classes Surprisingly, the class has was created to celebrate Black History Month I mean, wow There really are no words

The Facebook post about classes, which was shared by Twitter user Georgia Coan, has since been deleted and PureGym has issued an apology In the article, PureGym Luton & Dunstable wrote: “Entitled ’12 Years of Slave ‘(after the epic film) this is our workout designed by @mattsimpt to celebrate Black History Month Slavery was hard and it’s also « 

He went on to explain the format of the insensitive themed class, adding: « The twist to this is 1 rep of your first exercise, 2 of the second but before your move to the third exercise which is also 3 reps you should start through the start and keep going AND that’s how the whole workout goes « This was followed by a later load of fitness related hashtags and a photo of a gym studio mirror with ’12 Years Of Slave ‘[sic] written on it

The shocking and hurtful post has since been deleted and PureGym has shared a statement of apology, describing it as « totally unacceptable » Many social media users have expressed shock at something as traumatic as the slavery being trivialized by becoming the basis of a voluntary training course

@PureGym from Luton and Dunstable seem to think this post is an appropriate way to celebrate Black History Month picTwittercom / kTpdWEuE88

In its entirety, PureGym’s statement reads: « PureGym wholeheartedly apologizes for a post regarding Black History Month which was released today by our gym in Luton & Dunstable This post was completely unacceptable, was not endorsed or approved by the company, and was deleted when brought to our attention

« We take this issue very seriously and are urgently investigating how and why this post was published Thanks to those who commented on this post and for raising it with us »

Obviously, needless to say, a slavery-themed class to celebrate Black History Month (which was created to encourage people of all races to learn more about the culture black, as well as to celebrate the achievements of black people through the ages) is more than messed up

Official statement from PureGym regarding inappropriate social media post for Luton & Dunstable gym picTwittercom / c91xwHIogk

The coach behind the practice, Matt Simpson, responded to a tweet saying, « What’s so interesting about this? I just took the name of a Oscar winner film and gave it to a workout bearing the exercise number coincides with the number in the title « He is believed to be also assistant manager within the gym

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PureGym, Exercise, PureGym Luton and Dunstable, Black History Month, African American History, 12 Years of Slavery