Et tu, LA Fitness?

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I am starting to see a trend.

One of the good things about living in a world where we can use our cell phones as video cameras, is that we can now see and hear things that some of us thought never happened in this country. Like, for instance,  open racism and bigotry in public spaces.

We all know by now what happened in that Philadelphia Starbucks on the edge of Rittenhouse Square. (BTW, the police were called within minutes of the men entering the store. They did not loiter for hours as some racist websites are suggesting.) But it's not only Starbucks with the alleged racist employees. Let's go to an LA. Fitness gym (full disclosure my current gym of choice) in the great state of New Jersey.

 "Amid nationwide backlash over a racial profiling incident at a Philadelphia Starbucks, three employees at a New Jersey gym have been fired for a similar situation.

In a series of Facebook videos that went viral Tuesday, two black men were kicked out of an LA Fitness in Secaucus after an employee called police.

Tshyrad Oates, who posted the videos on his account, said he was visiting on a four-day guest pass Monday. His friend, he said, had been a longtime member at the gym.“After about a half hour I was approached by this same employee telling me that I had to leave or pay and I explained to her that I just signed in with her with the guest pass,” Oates wrote on Facebook. 

“She stated that it was my friend who did not pay (unaware that her manager had already signed him in with his membership pass). My friend stated to her that he is an active and current member and that his gym tag was in his locker. He felt racially profiled and embarrassed by the harassment of this LA Fitness employee in front of other members at the gym.”

Oates continued to say that two policemen showed up at the LA Fitness to question them.
“We explained to them about our guest pass and rescanned my friend’s member tag and it resulted in current active statues. (The LA Fitness employee did look at the computer screen that showed current member status and said nothing),” he wrote.

“We again started our workout and 10 mins later an LA Fitness manager told us to leave, we stated that we did not do anything wrong and have active current memberships. 2 mins later 5 police men show up asking us to leave.”

The gym manager allegedly told Oates that he had been banned from the LA Fitness and his friend’s membership “has been terminated effective immediately.”

In one of Oates’ videos, his friend noted that they were “the only two black people in the gym” and that he had been “having problems with this staff for months.”

In another video, a man, seemingly a gym employee, insisted that no filming was allowed on premises as the videographer recorded his conversations with the police and other employees.
A spokesperson for the national branch told the Daily News late Thursday that the three employees are "no longer with the company."

"For over 30 years, people of all races have been welcome in our clubs. We do ask for a Membership card or ID to gain entry. The front desk staff employee was confused and thought the member was a guest. He explained that he was a member, had checked in earlier, and did not want to retrieve his membership card a second time. The front desk employee who made the request was not working when this member checked in the first time, so she was unaware," the statement to The News read.

"Regrettably, from there our staff unnecessarily escalated the situation and called the police rather than work through it. Clearly, this is a long time member, with a current, valid membership. We want to clarify that no membership was cancelled and no one, including the member’s guest, was banned from the club. We have spoken to the member to apologize and assure him that he and his guests are welcome in our clubs at all times."

LA Fitness also said that the company is "currently exploring potential training content and opportunities to better train our staff."

Oates did not immediately returned a request for comment. The local police also declined to comment." [Source]

I will paraphrase what a colleague of mine declared recently: The shit is exhausting, bro.