Crossfit cut ties Monday with a gym owner accused of sending a racist email to an Indian American customer, ABC WKBW reports.
The customer requested a refund for a gym event that organizers cancelled due to COVID-19.
Robby Dinero, who owns Athletes Unleashed in Orchard Park, New York, allegedly wrote in response to the customer’s email, “I will refund your money as soon as you eat my a** you filthy, foreign, third-world country piece of s**t.”
“We are outraged and appalled by the language used by Mr. Dinero, which has no place in the CrossFit community. When we heard about the issue, we contacted Mr. Dinero, who did not deny using the language in question, so we have terminated his affiliate relationship with CrossFit, effective immediately,” a Crossfit spokesperson said in a statement to 7 Eyewitness News.
While the email exchange happened in July, the customer made the email public after Dinero went viral in November protesting COVID-19 restrictions.
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Dinero made national news for holding a protest with other local business owners against county COVID-19 restrictions and kicking out Erie County health inspectors. He later tore up a $15,000 fine letter from the county health department on Fox News.
According to NBC WGRZ, Dinero would not confirm whether or not he wrote the email.
“The issue is not whether I sent that email. The issue is freedom. That’s what I’m focused on. That’s all anybody cares about: freedom,” Dinero told NBC WGRZ.
The Buffalo News reported it received a redacted copy of the email and confirmed its content.
Dinero also said that the email is a distraction from his protest against COVID-19 restrictions.
“That email was only circulated because I’m being effective, the movement is effective, and they’re trying to distract from our goal of opening for everyone.”
A GoFundMe campaign in support of Dinero has raised over $48,000.
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