Gym rat booted from NY Equinox for wearing Trump shirt
A Trump supporter was booted from a $350-a-month Equinox gym in Manhattan for wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with the former president’s mugshot — which a manager called “offensive,” he claims.
Jared, 27, a startup founder who requested his last name not be used, said he was interrupted as he worked up a sweat at the Equinox Flatiron by the location’s general manager, who on Saturday asked him to cover up or leave.
“She told me Equinox is a ‘safe space’ and that my shirt was offensive,” he told The Post Monday.
The garment in question was a white T-shirt featuring Trump’s historic mugshot photo from August with the words “never surrender” printed underneath.
In a viral video of the subsequent encounter viewed nearly 200,000 times online, Jared engages in a cordial exchange with the manager, Queen Ogunyinka, in which he questions the gym’s policy.
“They’re kicking me out, can you believe that? They’re kicking me out because I’m wearing Trump,” Jared says to another member who approaches the front desk as he films.
Ogunyinka calmly states that she had given him her business card with her contact info and would be sending an explanation in writing via email when she had time later.
“I’m just asking him to cover it up just like anybody coming in here with a Kamala Harris shirt,” she explains to the second member in the video.
Jared, who is Jewish, said he has worn shirts to the gym with pro-Israel messages like “Bring them Home” and “IDF” but never got a second glance.
“But only three days from the election I was kicked out for wearing the candidate on my shirt,” he told The Post.
“American democracy is about free speech and debate. Time and time again, the left does everything in their power to silence ideas. I refuse to be bullied.”
As an alum of UC Berkeley, Jared said he’s no stranger to “leftist elitism,” but that he doesn’t shy away from a confrontation when pushed.
“I speak my mind, and for that I have lost friends and have been looked down upon,” he said.
“When they have no arguments left, they try to demonize you.”
Jared admits he didn’t support the former president in the 2016 race, “but the antisemitism and anti-Americanism of the left drove me to support him today,” he said, adding, “As a Jew, I must stand with the pro-Israel candidate Donald Trump.”
Reached by email Monday, an Equinox spokesperson told The Post, “An Equinox associate mistakenly asked a member to cover up an article of clothing. The shirt did not violate our dress code, and we have apologized to the member directly.”
Jared confirmed the gym reached out and apologized, but he said the incident has soured him on Equinox and he’ll likely be looking for a new gym moving forward — though he said the steep $350-a-month membership fee was also a motivating factor.
The gym spokesperson did not answer a follow-up question about whether Ogunyinka was acting based on what she thought the gym’s policy was her own personal politics.
Ogunyinka did not respond to an email seeking comment.
Saturday’s incident wasn’t the only time the pricey gym has courted controversy as it relates to the former president.
In 2019, founder Stephen Ross — the Trump-supporting billionaire owner of the Miami Dolphins, who also founded SoulCycle — threw a fundraiser for the 45th president with tickets ranging from $5,600 to $250,000 a pop.
The event triggered a full-blown meltdown among the left, including by trans activists who started a Change.org campaign encouraging members to quit on the grounds that the company was “supporting an administration that puts us in danger and works towards treating us like second class citizens, and worse yet, subhuman.”
