Planet Fitness Founder and Former CEO Says the Trans Gym is "Basically Destroyed" by Boycotts

The Bud Light Effect .

Planet Fitness Inc. Founder and CEO Mike Grondahl detailed a history of rampant abuse at the company and alleged it misrepresented its financials during a recent interview with controversial right-wing X user Libs of TikTok.

This comes after weeks of calls for boycotts of the brand after the company canceled the membership of a Planet Fitness gym goer after speaking out about a biological male in the women's locker room.

Planet Fitness's policy allows gym members to use the locker room associated with their gender identity. But this policy has led to a few high-profile cases of women feeling uncomfortable in Planet Fitness women's locker rooms, and some women and children have reported abuse and sexual harassment at the facilities. Many of these incidents resulted in the women losing their membership, but an arrest was made in at least one instance, as previously reported by Benzinga.

In the 15-minute interview, Grondahl outlined the history of the company and the reason behind its founding. Grondahl started the gym, noting the Judgement Free Zone was meant to be a welcoming signal to novice gymgoers looking for a place to start. But when speaking about the company today, Grondahl says it's "devastating" what it's become.

"Planet Fitness was like another child for me. And I put my heart and soul into building that company and it's been pretty much destroyed in, ya know, it's lost all respect within the country within the last couple weeks," he said. "There's no common sense standing behind this."

Grondahl told Libs of TikTok he didn't approve of the policies or the response to them in recent weeks. Grondahl sold the company to private equity in November 2012 and lost control. Following the sale, he remained CEO until he was ousted after he reported that the chief administrative officer (CAO) and general counsel hired by the private equity firm had been found guilty of multiple charges over several years and abused minors on several occasions. In two instances, he was a teacher and was found guilty of abusing his students. The CAO left Planet Fitness in 2017.

"When we went public, the majority of the board knew that this lead attorney was a pedophile. It's in the culture." Grondahl said during the TikTok interview.

The Planet Fitness "culture" includes accusations of widespread abuse at the company.

"It started at the corporate office, this attorney started abusing employees, then he's abusing them sexually, now the culture leads into the people doing the right thing are being thrown out of Planet Fitness," Grondahl said.

posted by Disinformation Expert Ace at 12:14 PM

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