Following homophobic language posted in an Instagram story, a personal trainer who works at FLYEfit in Ranelagh has been let go by the fitness company.
In the caption on the personal trainer’s instragram story, he wrote, “even the face of this faggot piss [sic] me off today. Somone [sic] should take this shit out from the street.”
Twitter user, Rory, who uses the Ranelagh branch of FLYEfit where the personal trainer works, shared a screenshot of the Instagram story, saying that this has made him fearful of attending classes at the gym where the trainer is an instructor:
“So this was an insta story this morning from one of the personal trainers in @Flyefit Ranelagh. I’ve emailed them and asked if they think this kind of homophobic language is ok. This guy regularly takes my spinning class on Sunday and I’m a little bit afraid about going tomorrow.
“I joined that gym 2 years ago and I’ve always found it a really safe space, where I learned about exercise and how to stay fit. I’ve a knot in my stomach because I didn’t believe people still used this kind of language towards gay people in Ireland.”
FLYEfit replied to the thread on Twitter saying, “We have been made aware of this incident and the individual has been immediately contacted. We are taking this matter extremely seriously. FLYEfit does not condone this kind of behaviour.”
The company, which recorded profits of just over €1.6 million in 2016, outsources all personal trainers and class instructors to independent personal trainers who must be registered as self-employed.
Rory shared an update this morning saying that they have received a satisfactory resolution from FLYEfit:
“Thank you everyone for your support. I have received what I consider to be a fair response from FLYEfit and I hope I won’t need to tweet about this any more.”
Following GCN reaching out to FLYEfit for comment, the company replied: “We have spoken to the personal trainer. We are appalled by his language and actions and his contract with the company has been terminated.
“FLYEfit is proud of the culture of diversity and inclusiveness that exists at all of our gyms and our members and the public generally can be assured that we will continue to uphold this standard.”
© 2018 GCN (Gay Community News). All rights reserved.
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