Ben Bergeron and Rory McKernan will be hosting an online affiliate town hall on Wednesday, June 10th at 12pm EDT. The town hall will allow for gyms still affiliated with CrossFit to ask questions and discuss what happens next following the backlash to comments regarding the Black Lives Matter movement made by CrossFit CEO Greg Glassman. Hundreds of gyms de-affiliated and many athletes boycotted the Games.
Notably, Glassman’s comments also led to Reebok ending its partnership with CrossFit and Rogue Fitness to distance themselves, removing CrossFit logo from the 2020 Rogue Invitational and partnering with Reebok.
Bergeron is the coach to reigning 4-time Fittest Man on Earth Mat Fraser and 2-time Fittest Woman on Earth Katrin Davidsdottir. McKernan worked in media production at CrossFit for a decade and as host of the CrossFit Games before becoming the Media Director of NOBULL this past January. He is also the co-author of Dottir: My Journey to Becoming a Two-Time CrossFit Games Champion. He will act as moderator for the town hall.
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“These are confusing times. Let’s create a platform to ask questions and talk about what happens next for Affiliate owners.”
As of the writing of this article, 475 gyms have de-affiliated from CrossFit HQ according to the de-affiliation megathread on Reddit.
McKernan has made a public statement regarding Glassman’s comments, calling them “disgusting” and “inappropriate”.
Bergeron shared his thoughts about how this past week has “removed the blindfold”. You can watch that entire video below:
“I realized I was just in the dark. I was uneducated. There is a problem. But the real problem is systemic. It’s ingrained in our culture. I didn’t realize that was going on and it kills me to realize how in the dark I was. It’s time for me as a parent, as an educator, to stop being silent and start a conversation.”
Registration for the town hall has already reached capacity.
Feature image from Greg Bergeron’s Instagram page: @benbergeron
