The topic of racism is now everywhere around the world. It sparks with the death of the black man George Floyd, but the impact is now increasing more than ever. Apparently, not everyone still understands what the protesters are fighting for. Just like a gym in Wisconsin that recently received backlash after they posted a workout program, designed to keep their customers standing up-- called 'I Can't Breathe.'
'I can't breathe' no longer refers to George Floyd, its now a workout program
A famous gym in Wisconsin is now under a lot of controversies after the facility created a program called 'I Can't Breathe' as one of their newest offered workout routines for their customers.
Fox News reported that Anytime Fitness in Wisconsin recently introduced the said program at the state. A Twitter user posted a picture on social media showing the name of the program 'I Can't Breathe' on a dry erase board that also displays an assumingly black man on his one knee. It also captioned, "and don't you dare lay down."
Before George Floyd died while being pinned down by police officers, the 'I can't breathe' line were his last words. Apparently, health authorities said that he died out of asphyxia or lack of oxygen due to the forced arrest of the policemen.
What is this workout?
The controversial workout lasted for more than 35 minutes and included some of the standard workout routines like burpees and rows.
The tweeted image was captioned by @cashewcruise by saying, "really concerned that @AnytimeFitness finds mocking the death of George Floyd appropriate racism is alive in Wauwatosa #Milwaukee."
Normally, I roll my eyes when companies apologize for anything, because they're usually apologizing to blue checkmarks over something that's not a big deal... but man, who thought this was a good idea?! Lol — Joe Fleabag (@JinjoJoey) June 10, 2020
Reddit users also found the post not funny and racist that Anytime Fitness did not stop these kinds of discriminatory acts.
"Talk about tone-deaf," says one Redditor.
"Fire the person who thought this was clever or funny. Making light of a man's brutal murder. Sad sick people," another Reddit user wrote.
Anytime Fitness apologizes with the 'I can't breathe' program
On Facebook, Anytime Fitness already commented on the issue and said that they were very sorry about the issue. They also understand the backlash from the masses about what they did and fix the problem.
"No matter our intent, we now recognize how deeply offensive our words, illustrations, and actions have been," the statement, which was posted to Facebook, read. "We obviously have work to do within our own location, and we will work hard to earn back your trust and respect. We stand with our black community, and again, we are so very sorry for this insensitive move."
