{"id":10669,"date":"2019-08-09T07:30:12","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T07:30:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/laughfrodisiac.com\/?p=10669"},"modified":"2019-08-08T21:26:47","modified_gmt":"2019-08-08T21:26:47","slug":"voting-with-your-dollar-a-big-fork-off-to-equinox-soulcycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/laughfrodisiac.com\/2019\/08\/09\/voting-with-your-dollar-a-big-fork-off-to-equinox-soulcycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Voting With Your Dollar: A Big Fork Off to Equinox & SoulCycle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
This is #3 in the Vote With Your Dollar series\nin which I ruin things you probably love, and I\u2019m sorry, but like, the world is\na mess and we should try to do better. Every other Friday I\u2019ll be here ruining\nstuff for you!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n Today we are discussing GOTTAMMED Trump supporters. GOTTAMM\nTHEM ALL.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Equinox, SoulCycle,\n& more <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In NYC one summer, I thought it would be like suh cul to\njoin Equinox, the fanciest, coolest, most exclusive (and expensive) gym out\nthere. My branch was all I hoped it would be \u2013 there was a smoothie bar, and\nthere were celebrities (I don\u2019t ask for much). I even ran into Raul Esparza one\nday! But today, I\u2019m ready to give Raul Esparza up. Not that I go to Equinox\nanymore, but you know what I\u2019m saying. It\u2019s not worth it. And I know people are\nobbbsesssssed with SoulCycle (all those memes about people who do CrossFit\nnever being able to stop talking about it should really be about SoulCycle)\n(side note why is every trendy exercise brand two capitalized words merged\ntogether it\u2019s pissing me off). But anyway, spinning junkies, it\u2019s time to give\nPeloton, whatever the fork their business model is, even more business because\nFORK Equinox and FORK SoulCycle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n This week, news came out that the founder and chairman of\nRelated Cos., an enormous (and infuriatingly generic named) real estate\ncompany, is a Trump supporter. And not just like your uncle is a Trump\nsupporter; I mean the influential kind that billionaires are, the ones who are\nguaranteeing the safety of his job and endangering the rest of us. Stephen\nRoss, the man in question, plans to host a fundraiser for Cheeto Mussolini\u2019s\nreelection in New York TODAY. How\nmuch funds does he plan on raising? The tickets are $100,000 a head, for lunch\nand a photo (and they go up from there). THAT\u2019S A LOT OF CHEETOS, MUSSOLINI! <\/p>\n\n\n\n So why does this matter for those of us who love fancy gyms\nand\/or spin classes despite the crotch pain that you never get used to? Related\nCos. owns Equinox and SoulCycle, and so there is a huge twitter boycott\nspreading in the wake of this news. Equinox tried to save face with a statement\nthat actually made everything worse (who is in charge over there?! Oh right,\nTrumpers), saying that Ross is merely a \u201cpassive investor\u201d and that neither\nEquinox nor SoulCycle are involved with the fundraiser. But Ross is literally\nthe founder of this entire huge company, and the chairman. He IS the company.\nThe money may be fungible, but it\u2019s still the money that makes him super\nimmorally rich and it\u2019s still these companies that make him so powerful. Even\nif it doesn\u2019t actually do anything to cancel memberships, it sends a message,\nand that\u2019s the least we can do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, there\u2019s a tiny bit more we can do, and it\u2019s going to\nhurt. Equinox and SoulCycle are the face of this controversy, but Related Cos.\nalso owns or has made huge investments in a bunch of other notable brands that\nI know some of you adore. Gird your loins, because here\u2019s a small sampling:<\/p>\n\n\n\n PURE Yoga (I know)<\/p>\n\n\n\n &Pizza (ughh)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Blink Fitness (well no one actually cares about that one)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Milk Bar (I\u2019m sorry!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n The entire Momofuku empire (I SAID I\u2019M SORRY)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Hudson Yards (oof)<\/p>\n\n\n\n Also, Ross is co-hosting the event with his current wife (I\nmean she lives in the house and it\u2019s at their house (well at one of them; I\u2019m\nsure they have 50 and still don\u2019t give a quarter to homeless people)). His\ncurrent wife is jewelry designer Kara Ross, whose (hideous, actually, so no\nreal skin off our backs) jewelry is sold online at various websites including\ntherealreal.com and lyst.co.uk, and in stores at Bergdorf Goodmans. So, boycott\nthem all.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, it\u2019s true, and forking bleak, that if we had to boycott\nevery immoral corporation, we\u2019d never actually be able to buy or do anything\never again. But even so, I think it\u2019s worth doing what you can to send a\nmessage. And these little protests can add up: #GrabYourWallet, the campaign\nthat gathers Trump-supporting companies to boycott, has added Related Cos.\nbrands to their list, and this is the movement that got Nordstrom and Macy\u2019s to\nstop selling Ivanka\u2019s (trash) clothing line as a direct result of the boycotts\nthey led. So I believe it\u2019s worth it to keep voting with our dollars even if\nour dollars don\u2019t seem to make a huge difference. Like Eleanor said in season 3\nepisode 5 (my favorite episode, guys) \u201cwhy not try? It\u2019s better than not\ntrying, right?\u201d <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" This is #3 in the Vote With Your Dollar series in which I ruin things you probably love, and I\u2019m sorry, but like, the world is […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":10670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[173],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-miscellany"],"yoast_head":"\n