Video of Gym Owner’s Racist Tirade Sparks Outrage
Written by SOURCE on December 30, 2020
A man’s business is now in jeopardy after he was filmed launching a racist tirade against a woman.
Over the weekend, YouTube user YamaBread CreamPan shared cellphone footage of the incident, which reportedly went down in a Southern California parking lot. The video shows a man sitting in the driver’s seat of a car as he verbally attacks the woman behind the camera.
“Why don’t you stay at home?” the man says through his window, as a female passenger is seen smiling. “Are you that dumb? You want to photograph me?”
At that point, the man gets out of his vehicle and begins to approach the woman, who then retreats back to her car.
“Exactly! Get in your car, stupid g**k! Go back to fucking (inaudible),” he shouts, before getting back into the driver’s seat. “Are you really that stupid? You know that recording doesn’t do anything. Stay home, and thanks for giving my country COVID. Have a great day.”
The man is then seen driving off.
Footage of the attack was initially posted on Nextdoor, but was allegedly removed without an explanation. The woman who shared the video claimed she has since contacted Nextdoor to figure out why it was deleted.
“This is unfortunate because I felt so empowered by everyone’s response in that post,” she wrote on YouTube, where she also shared the video. “It would also encourage people who have the same experience to share their stories and send a strong message that there is no place for bigotry. I emailed Nextdoor support team to figure out the reason for their action. This racist man ambushed me in the parking lot, chanting racial slurs and threatening to punch me in the face after he refused to practice social distancing.”
Shortly after the video was shared, social media users identified the man as Brian Kranz, a personal trainer who runs Red Fitness in Irvine, California.
The gym’s website has been wiped clean, with every link taking users to a 404 page. VoyageLA magazine has also deleted its 2018 profile on Kranz, while Yelp has restricted activity on Red Fitness’ review page.
“This business recently received increased public attention resulting in an influx of people posting their views to this page, so we have temporarily disabled the ability to post here as we work to investigate the content,” Yelp wrote in an alert. “While racism has no place on Yelp and we unequivocally reject racism in any form, all reviews on Yelp must reflect an actual first-hand consumer experience (even if that means disabling the ability for users to express points of view we might agree with).”
Congresswoman Katie Porter, who represents California’s 45th Congressional District, responded to the footage via Twitter.
