Leading ‘alt-right’ figure loses gym privileges after incident

A leading figure in the “alt-right” movement had his gym membership revoked after a Georgetown University professor confronted him during a workout and called him a neo-Nazi.

Professor C. Christine Fair told the Associated Press on Monday that the Old Town Sport&Health club in Alexandria, Va., informed her that it terminated the membership of white nationalist Richard Spencer following Wednesday’s incident.

The gym’s general manager didn’t respond to a call for comment. Fair said she believes the gym made a “business decision” in pulling the membership.

Spencer told BuzzFeed that he didn’t think the gym’s decision was fair.

“I’m really a model gymgoer,” Spencer said. “I don’t bother anyone. I don’t talk to anyone. I really just go and lift weights.”

Fair, who teaches at Georgetown’s School of Foreign Service, published photos of her confrontation with Spencer in a blog post. She said he denied being Richard Spencer when she asked him if that’s his name.

“I said, ‘Oh, not only are you a Nazi, you’re a cowardly Nazi,’ ” she said.

Fair said another gym member, a woman, yelled at her “for making a scene” and threatened to call police.

Spencer said he was “peacefully working out” when Fair confronted him.

“I don’t come to the gym to do politics,” Spencer said. “But she started screeching and yelling all this stuff.”

Spencer, who runs the nonprofit National Policy Institute, has advocated for an “ethno-state” that would be a “safe space” for white people. After President Donald Trump’s election, he hosted a conference in Washington where he shouted “Hail Trump, hail our people, hail victory!” and the audience responded with Nazi salutes.