Purjim has been criticized for starting a ‘slavery-based’ fitness class as part of them Celebrating Black History Month.
The workout was announced on a Facebook page for Purjim’s Luton and Dunstable branch, and the class itself has been dubbed the ‘Slave of the 12 Years,’ inspired by the 2013 screw-winning 2013 film with the same title.
Read the Facebook post, which has now been deleted; ‘Slavery was hard and this is it,’ and the workout includes short sprints, burps, deadlifts and other challenging moves.
Read the ad posted on Jim’s social media page, ‘This is our workout of the month designed by @mattsimpt to celebrate Black History Month.
‘Slavery was hard and so is this.
‘The twist of this is 1 rap of your 1st exercise, 2 of the second, but before you move on to the 3rd exercise, which is 3 reps, you have to start early to move on. And that’s how the whole workout goes. ‘
However, many do not believe that creating a workout based on the challenges of slavery is the best way to celebrate Black History Month. In fact, many viewers are extremely annoyed.
‘Oh wow this is a shame – please delete this, take a little different training for all your staff and replace it with a long and detailed apology !!!’ Wrote a Jim-Goer.
‘Pure gym must have an aggressive tone deaf marketing team that can compare workouts to slavery FFS is acceptable.’
Someone else asked: ‘Please tell me you’re not serious about going to the gym with the horrors of the slave trade ?!’
Many angry people in the comments are eager for Jim to apologize about this post, and others pointed out that a better way to celebrate Black History Month is to effectively train employees about diversity issues.
Just hours before posting an ad for the ’12-year-old Slave ‘workout, Luton and Dunstable Jim posted an inspiring message on their Facebook page about celebrating Black History – this has also been deleted.
Read the post, ‘For some of us the outline of racial indifference is never too high.’ ‘We can only hope for change but when we do, let’s outline the life changers this month who have made so many things possible for us.’
This post featured Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous ‘I Dream Have’ quote with a picture.
A representative from Pure Gym told Metro.co.uk that the company “reserves apology” for the Facebook post.
“This post is completely unacceptable, was not approved or endorsed by the company and was removed as soon as it was brought to our attention,” he says.
‘Each of our 271 gyms has its own social media channels that are run locally. We take this matter seriously and are urgently investigating why and why this post was created. ‘
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Black History Month
October marks Black History Month, reflecting on the achievements, cultures and contributions of black people in the UK and around the world, as well as educating others about the different histories of African and Caribbean descent.
For more information about events and celebrations to be held this year, visit the official Black History Month Website.
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