While everyone was still (rightfully) raging at a Philadelphia Starbucks for racially profiling black male customers as dangerous users of restrooms, another national chain was doing the same damn thing in New Jersey, with just a fraction of the public scrutiny.
On Monday, Tshyrad Oates joined an unnamed friend for an afternoon workout at the Secaucus LA Fitness; his friend, who describes himself as a paying member of the gym for “at least eight years,” was able to secure Oates’ access to the facility with a four-day guest pass.
Oates’ friend, the actual gym member, arrived first, and Oates joined him a bit later. Both were required to present proper credentials to enter. But according to Oates, about 30 minutes later, the female LA Fitness employee who had scanned Oates’ guest pass interrupted his workout.
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. She stated that it was my friend who did not pay (unaware that her manager had already signed him in with his membership pass).
After explaining that they did, in fact, have every right to be there, and asserting that they were embarrassed by the implications, the men continued to exercise. The female employee then apparently called the police.
We continued our workout and next thing we know 2 police men show up questioning us on why we were (there) with no memberships, we explained to them about our guest pass and rescanned my friend’s member tag and it resulted in current active (statuses). (The La Fitness employee did look at the computer screen that showed current member status and said nothing.)
With their right to be in the gym once again validated, and, ostensibly, the police on their side, Oates says the men resumed their workouts. But the LA Fitness staff weren’t having it. The female employee summoned her manager, who then called MORE police, and demanded the men stop filming; police told him that Oates had every right to record videos.
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. This La Fitness manager who refused to give us his reason to kicking us out, and refused to give us his name stated that I was banned from the gym and my friend’s gym membership has been terminated effective immediately.
When, in the final video, the men inquire about the reason for the termination, even the cops seemed frustrated, responding with resigned sighs of “Nobody knows, man.”
It’s important to note that this story of corporate bigotry would likely have never made headlines, and at most, devolved into a he-said, she-said situation without Oates’ video proof. After all, the same negative stereotypes that lead to profiling are one and the same as the ones that lead to people of color not being believed when they report the ridiculously heinous things that bigots do.
Because this story is, indeed, ridiculous. To recap:
- A man who has been a paying member of LA Fitness for “at least” eight years secured a guest pass for his pal so they could work out together.
- An LA Fitness employee’s knee-jerk assumption to seeing two African-American men getting fit was that Oates and his friend had to have snuck into the nearly empty gym without paying, because … something racist something black people?
- The police were called. Two officers confirmed the men’s right to be there and let them get back to their damn fitness regimen.
- The manager then attempted to eject the men, and summoned five more cops, who, based on the videos, sided with the men, and were pretty incredulous at the waste of their time.
- The manager then terminated the membership of the eight-year member without explanation, and banned his guest.
- After being ejected, Oates posted the video on Facebook, and though, again, it was overshadowed by the Philly Starbucks arrests for waiting for a friend while black, it gained some viral traction. As of this writing, it’s been shared more than 58,000 times.
LA Fitness, which owns over 700 gyms nationwide and was cofounded in 1984 by an actor who was then best known for his appearances on The Waltons, expressed corporate regret in a public statement.
In a statement emailed to NJ Advance Media on Wednesday evening, L.A. Fitness said it has apologized to the customer and made it clear that his membership is still valid.
"Regrettably, our staff unnecessarily escalated the situation and called the police rather than work through it, " the statement said. "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 assured him that he and his guests are welcome in our clubs at all times."
L.A. Fitness also said it is "exploring potential training content and opportunities to better train our staff."
Exploring? Hmm. Wonder what that looks like.
I called the Secaucus location Thursday morning to ask one simple question: When would black people be allowed to work out at the gym again?
William, the gentleman who answered, first asked me if that was a rhetorical question. Once I asserted my sincerity, William told me that the three employees associated with the incident had been terminated.
William also gave me the number to corporate, but not before letting me know that “all sorts of colored people are here working out right now.”
How reassuring, William.