Anger as gym likens tough workout to being a slave
A GYM sparked fury by launching a new workout to celebrate Black History Month and comparing it to slavery.
A branch of fitness chain Puregym posted details of the plan – titled ‘12 Years Of Slave’ – on Facebook.
The now-deleted post incorrectly name-checked the Oscar-winning film 12 Years A Slave, adding: ‘Slavery was hard and so is this.’
The plan was posted by PureGym’s Luton and Dunstable branch in Bedfordshire. The post said: ‘Entitled 12 Years OfSlave (after the epic movie) this is our workout of the month ... to celebrate black history month. Slavery was hard and so is this.’
Former footballer Stan Collymore voiced his disgust, tweeting: ‘F****** hell @PureGym, this is honking. Slavery was hard and so is this? WTAF?’
Another social media user said: ‘How someone thought this was acceptable is beyond me.’ A third posted: ‘I genuinely can’t believe I’ve just read this, I can’t believe this is real?’
It was reported last night that the workout was created by Matt Simpson – who is black – and who promoted a similar ‘slave’ programme a year ago.
A PureGym spokesman said: ‘PureGym apologises unreservedly for a post made today by our gym in Luton.
‘This post is wholly unacceptable, was not approved or endorsed by the company and was removed as soon as it was brought to our attention.
‘Each of our 271 gyms has its own social media channels which are run locally.
‘We take this matter extremely seriously and are urgently investigating how and why this post was made.’ The 2013 movie 12 Years A Slave tells the story of a free black man sold into slavery.