A Virgin Active gym has banned one of its members after an alleged homophobic remark was made to eNCA anchor Andrew Barnes.
|||Green Point - Virgin Active has banned one of its members after homophobic remarks were allegedly made to eNCA anchor Andrew Barnes.
Virgin Active spokesperson Les Aupiais told the Cape Argus they had acted decisively and shown zero tolerance.
“When you have a case like this, we look at both sides. You have a hearing, listen to both sides and you have to verify facts.
“We acted decisively and take zero tolerance and we stick with that.”
Last week, Barnes laid a complaint at the Green Point gym after he was verbally abused for kissing his partner goodbye.
He wrote on his facebook page on November 27: “Verbally abused at gym this morning by an old fart who took exception to seeing my partner kiss me goodbye… In this day and age? Seriously?
“Anyway, we’ve laid a formal complaint and the manager of Virgin Active Point will be talking to the aggro homophobe tomorrow.
“I’ll keep you posted.”
Barnes took to his Facebook page again on Thursday, thanking Virgin Active for taking a stand.
“Thank you Virgin Active for taking a stand against homophobia.
“For physically threatening my partner and verbally abusing us both, The Homophobe has been banned for life from The [Green] Point.
“He’s also been suspended from all other Virgin Active clubs for the next three months. Here’s hoping he’s learnt that discrimination and intimidation, on any grounds, are no longer tolerated.” - Cape Argus