Fact Check: Planet Fitness Allegedly Lost 350K Members to Competitor After Canceling Woman's Membership

Anna Rascouët-Paz
·2 min read
432
Getty Images
Getty Images

Claim:

A post claimed in March 2024 that Planet Fitness lost 350,000 members for expelling a member who'd voiced discomfort about a trans person in the changing room.

Rating:

Rating: Labeled Satire
Rating: Labeled Satire

In March 2024, the website Dunning-Kruger-Times.com published an article that said a competitor of Planet Fitness acquired 350,000 new members following the news that a Planet Fitness location had expelled a female member for taking and sharing a photograph of another person in the changing room.

The woman said this person was a man and she was made uncomfortable by the person's presence in the women's changing room. The gym's staff reportedly told her that the person was part of the LGBTQ+ community, had a right to be in the women's locker room, and that it was she who violated the gym's rules by taking the photograph.

The Dunning-Kruger Times article published after news of the incident went viral read:

Planet Fitness Competitor Gains 350k New Members Overnight: "We're Giving Their Members a Free Year"

Planet Fitness made a huge mistake. A Bud Light-like goof. By allowing someone in a locker room based on what gender they want to be, they've offended a majority of Americans.

Their error, however, is a welcome one to PF's largest competitor, Globo Gym International.

This item was not a factual recounting of real-life events. The article originated with a website that is part of the America's Last Line of Defense network and describes its output as being humorous or satirical in nature. Its disclaimer, which includes a nod to Snopes, reads as follows:

Dunning-Kruger-Times.com is a subsidiary of the "America's Last Line of Defense" network of parody, satire, and tomfoolery, or as Snopes called it before they lost their war on satire: Junk News.

Further, "Globo Gym" does not exist. It is a nod to the fictional gym from the 2004 movie "Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story."

For background, here is why we sometimes write about satire/humor.

 

Sources:

Dobrin, Nikki. 'Planet Fitness Canceled Membership of Woman Who Photographed Alleged Trans Member in Locker Room?' Snopes, 21 Mar. 2024, https://www.snopes.com//news/2024/03/21/planet-fitness-cancels-member-trans/.

Patriot, Flagg Eagleton-. 'Planet Fitness Competitor Gains 350K New Members Overnight: "We're Giving Their Members a Free Year"'. Dunning-Kruger-Times.Com, 22 Mar. 2024, https://dunning-kruger-times.com/planet-fitness-competitor-gains-350k-new-members-overnight-were-giving-their-members-a-free-year/.