Jessica Griffith Breaks Media Silence, Apologizes on Instagram

After four months of silence, former CrossFit Games athlete Jessica Griffith offered an apology on Instagram to her fans, community and those she offended with racist comments back in May.

Remind me: After screenshots of text and group messages were leaked on Reddit from a May 25 conversation with team members of Misfit Athletics, Griffith disabled her Instagram account. She was subsequently unable to reactivate it due to community standards violation.

• She then released a statement through the Morning Chalk Up in which she apologized, taking full responsibility for what she said.
• In the aftermath of her comments and subsequent apology the two-time Games athlete took racial sensitivity classes.
• Griffith’s Instagram page was reactivated three weeks ago with the noticeable inclusion of an article from The Cut in her bio.
• The article by Claire Lampen discusses what people can do to combat police brutality in the wake of the George Floyd murder that occured on Memorial Day.

One big thing: In the video Griffith states “it has been my greatest desire to publicly acknowledge what happened, apologize and ask for forgiveness.” As she looks toward the 2021 CrossFit season and her hopes of continuing her career as an athlete, this is a step in the right direction to being accepted back into the community.

• Athletes such as Noah Ohlsen, Katrin Davidsdottir and Amanda Barnhart have looked to accept her mea culpa. Ohlsen wrote, “Genuine and heartfelt. Welcome back, J.” in the comments to her Instagram video.

Griffith has continued to train at Lift Gym in Nixa, Missouri. She also helped 2020 Games qualifier Tyler Christophel prepare for his first individual appearance while coaching youth classes at the gym.

• “Making things right is the utmost important thing to me,” said Griffith.