CrossFit exec fired after calling LGBT community ‘sinners’
By Chris Perez June 7, 2018 | 12:45am
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A CrossFit executive got excommunicated from the sport on Wednesday after posting a series of tweets blasting the LGBT community as “sinners.”
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CrossFit is a diverse community in every way, and that’s what makes us strong. No matter who you are, how you’re built, what you believe, or who or how you love—we are proud of you.
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The statements made today by Russell Berger do not reflect the views of CrossFit Inc. For this reason, his employment with CrossFit has been terminated.
4:45 PM - Jun 6, 2018
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“He needs to take a big dose of ‘shut the f–k up’ and hide out for awhile,” said CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman during an interview with BuzzFeed News.
“We do so much good work with such pure hearts — to have some zealot in his off-time do something this stupid, we’re all upset.”
Russell Berger, the company’s Chief Knowledge Officer, was given the boot Wednesday just hours after his ****phobic Twitter rant went viral.
He made the comments as a way to show support for a CrossFit gym in Indianapolis that chose to cancel an LGBT event this week that was planned for Pride Month.
“As someone who personally believes celebrating ‘pride’ is a sin, I’d like to personally encourage #CrossFitInfiltrate for standing by their convictions and refusing to host an @indypride workout,” Berger wrote in a since-deleted tweet.
“The intolerance of the LGBTQ ideology toward any alternative views is mind-blowing,” he added. “The tactics of some in the LGBTQ movement toward dissent is an existential threat to freedom of expression. The lack of tolerance for disagreement, which has been replaced with bullying Twitter mobs promising ‘consequences’, should be a concern regardless of your political stance.”
Berger’s stance sparked widespread outrage on social media, with countless users and members of the CrossFit community calling him out Wednesday. The company issued an online statement in response and distanced itself from his comments, but didn’t initially fire him.
The high-ranking exec was first placed on administrative leave before the backlash proved to be too much to bear for CrossFit officials.
“The statements made today by Russell Berger do not reflect the views of CrossFit Inc.,” the company said. “For this reason, his employment with CrossFit has been terminated.”
Glassman, the sport’s founder, told BuzzFeed that “the whole company” was upset about the Berger rant, which he called “appalling.”
“This changes his standing with us,” Glassman explained, not long before Berger was axed Wednesday. “It’s so unfortunate.”
Originally Posted by Oso
One of my Kung Fu brothers is into it, but he cross trains a lot of stuff. And of course, I have several friends that are into it.
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