Virgin Active says sorry to pro-Palestine activist

Virgin Active has apologised to a gym member after he was turned away from one of its Johannesburg clubs this week for wearing a t-shirt that expressed solidarity with Palestine.

Mohammed Desai says he was not allowed into the Old Eds branch by management after arriving at the gym on Wednesday night wearing the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions t-shirt.

The Young Communist League t-shirt is emblazoned with the words "solidarity with Palestine against Israeli apartheid".

Virgin Active has backtracked and says Desai can wear the t-shirt.

Desai says he will be going to the South African Human Rights Commission and the Equality Court over the incident.

Virgin Active says it matter extremely seriously.

Here is the company's updated statement to the matter:

We have taken the highly publicised events at Old Eds Virgin Active health club this week extremely seriously.

We have thoroughly investigated the decisions we took, and the reasons behind them, which ultimately led to a member, Mr Desai, being informed that he could not enter the gym wearing a particular T-shirt. This process included a very senior team flying immediately to Johannesburg to personally meet the member concerned.

What emerges is that we took a sequence of understandable decisions in a very difficult, complex, fast evolving and volatile situation of the kind we have never had to face before. Our staff took these decisions with the best intent in terms of balancing the well-being of all our club members with the critical value of freedom of speech.

We ultimately conclude that the decision to inform Mr. Desai that he could not wear the T-shirt in the club, on balance, was wrong.

He, and any other member, is entitled to wear that T-shirt, and any other legal item of clothing, at our health clubs.

We regret the incident and have learnt a lot from it. We are reviewing our procedures as a result to find more appropriate ways to manage any tensions which might arise in what is meant to be a positive space for members' fitness and wellness.

We apologise to Mr. Desai for denying him entry to the health club on these grounds.

​(Photo via Twitter, @MuhammedDesai)