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PUREGYM was criticized for « very bad taste » after launching a workout to « celebrate » Black History Month – bragging that « slavery was hard and so is it «
The chain’s Luton and Dunstable branch has sparked outrage after using the forced trafficking of millions of Africans to promote the routine, which it has dubbed “12 years of slavery”
The workout, which included 12 different exercises including box jumps, burpees and push-ups, has since been removed from the gym’s Facebook page
The post read: « Titled ’12 Years of Slave ‘(after the epic movie), this is our workout of the month designed by @mattsimpt to celebrate Black History Month
« The bondage was hard, just like The twist of this is one rep of your first exercise, two of the second, but before you move on to the third exercise, which is also three reps, you start at the beginning to move on to something else »
Users were horrified by the message, urging the gym to remove it immediately
One person commented: « Wow, just wow I’m appalled that someone thought it was okay to post Pure Gym, hope you saw and are taking appropriate action against this »
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Another wrote: « I don’t even know where to start on this one Bad, callous and horrible in every way You have no idea what Black History Month really is You should be ashamed «
PureGym has since apologized for the post, explaining that their gym’s social media pages are managed locally
A spokesperson for PureGym told Sun Online: « PureGym apologizes wholeheartedly for a message posted today by our gym in Luton
« This post is completely unacceptable, was not endorsed or approved by the company, and was deleted as soon as it was brought to our attention. Each of our 271 gyms has their own social media channels which are locally managed
« We take this issue very seriously and are urgently investigating how and why this post was published »
The trainer who designed the routine – Luton PureGym branch assistant manager Matt Simpson – then defended it on Twitter
Responding to someone who called it an « interesting take on Black History Month, » he wrote: « What’s so interesting?
« I just took the name of an Oscar-winning movie and gave it to a workout whose number of exercises coincides with the number in the title »
Black History Month is held every October to commemorate the history and achievements of the black community
Around the year 1500, millions of Africans were taken into slavery and transported across the Atlantic to provide cheap labor to the colonies of America and the West Indies
Another third died in the plantations a few months after arriving from new tropical diseases Others died from hard work
Slaves were considered the property of their white owners and had no rights The way they were treated was appalling
Had a baby with my daughter’s ex, I celebrated the birth with £ 50,000 worth of clothes & wants twins
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World News – GB – Fury in PureGym ’12 Years Of Slave ‘Training to’ Celebrate ‘Black History