Accusations of Toxicity:
Last week, on John Wooley’s Instagram stories he answered an anonymous question which asked “hate seeing people in the CF space needlessly go after others just trying to do their job (ie. Hiller → TEF/Lauren) what’s the best way to support those who are being victimized? (for lack of a better word).”
I believe what this person is talking about is Hiller’s video and Dense Update’s reel this week on Lauren Khalil from Talking Elite Fitness questioning not getting enhanced access (or at the very least being frustrated at not getting a straight answer) at the CrossFit games despite not signing up for the open and her and her cohosts regularly bemoaning the organization and the season.
The two videos use Lauren’s own sentiment from earlier in the season via clips of her own show and TEF to give context as to why CrossFit might be reluctant to bring her into the fold. I would understand the question if there was no context, no thread of story and it was just blind rage. It speaks to a larger issue in media that has been rumbling for upwards of 5 years and has gotten considerably louder in the last 12 months.
There’s a narrative that’s long been peddled around CrossFit that some media outlets are negative or toxic and are damaging CrossFit.
What The Major Players Actually Do:
Before continuing, know this – I am not a journalist and this is an opinion piece, so you can put that bullet, you might have thought was silver, back in your armory.
We’re coming up on 6 years of The Sevan Podcast and 4 or so of Hiller’s YouTube (being relevant and active) and somewhere in between for my show and The Barbell Spin. I’m using those outlets as they tend to be the ones looked at (figuratively, certainly not literally – not many would debase themselves) by those claiming there’s negative media around CrossFit.
Let’s look at what each of those platforms offer and how they offer it, before continuing.
The Sevan Podcast – live athlete interviews; thrice weekly short news update videos; free event broadcast of NorCal, Syndicate, Crash Crucible this year; Behind the Scenes documentary series; CrossFit Games Update shows; an Affiliate video competition; Affiliate owner interviews; programming shows with Shut Up and Scribble; European based interviews with Jake on The Base Show; deep dive segments with Brad Asaraf; weekly shows with Greg Glassman; a weekly Dale Saran show and some UFC shit that nobody watches and Kill Taylor, a weekly game show which offers up $500 to take away, directly supporting aspiring and established athletes.
Andrew Hiller – athlete visit videos totalling around 1.2million views and roundly praised for their quality and content; videos upholding movement standards and defending the methodology/CrossFit from potential (one time or serial) cheaters within the sport and people outside lobbing grenades for their own benefit; videos critiquing content within the CrossFit ecosystem including WFP.
The Barbell Spin – email newsletter; consistent article release on season updates and breaking news; weekly live shows with news, opinion and games; multiple photographers who have worked with TBS in their live event coverage have also gone on to be hired by companies and athletes.
Coffee, Pods and Wods – Affiliate show series with J.R. Howell and Jonny Davies; athlete interviews; weekly debate shows; competition preview/review with Adrian Mundwiler; event vlogs; athlete videos totaling an incredibly small fraction of the number listed above on Hiller’s.
Through all of that content, all of that range of subject matter and varied styles of output, some viewers, peers, agents, etc. have declared it negative and toxic.
Are Criticism And Negativity The Same?
I think it’s safe to say that nobody has done more in the last 5 years to promote the athletes than Sevan, nobody has protected it’s virtuosity more than Hiller and nobody has published faster or more accurate news than Spin. I’m not including myself here, I feel I already overplayed my hand by being above so we’ll draw a line under it now.
Does that mean others haven’t tried? No. There’s effort across the entire ecosystem of shows, vlogs, event coverage etc. Does it get as much engagement? No, not even close. You can put Alex Gazan on with Sevan and get 14k views or on another platform and do well to break 2k.
Is all the content positive and praise? No, and it shouldn’t be. If you take the CrossFit Level 1 (which you should) you’ll read the line “you’re there as a coach, not a cheerleader”. It’s not the job of a coach to applaud and smile and nod when someone is trying but their squat is awful or they’re going to injure themselves through their deadlift set up or they’re missing the entire point of the workout by flailing around on the pull up bar.
It’s not the job of media to smile and nod and applaud a lack of effort or quality, it’s not the job to give a thumbs up to content just because it’s released, it’s not the job to accept and not question an opinion. It’s the job of all media to entertain. Your job is to capture attention and then offer value while you have it. It’s the job of endemic media to self promote, to be propaganda, to draw outsiders in and keep those that are there already, fully engaged.
We’re CrossFitters – We Like Variance:
Drawing another parallel from CrossFit – it’s for anyone but not for everyone, the media offerings are available for anyone but not everyone should watch or will like it all. It’s varied and broad in it’s offerings.
If you like straight up generic athlete questions, there’s content for that; if you like opinion pieces from people who share your view, there’s content for that; if you like opinion pieces from people who don’t share your view, there’s content for that too; if you want vlogs, there they’re; if you want Tactical Games, it’s out there; hate CrossFit and love WFP? You got it; the inverse? You’re covered too; Want Dave fired? Want him as CEO? Want brazen, over the line humour? Want something more carefully constructed and gentle? It’s all out there.
At any point in time viewers can stop viewing and guests can refuse to guest, strangely though, neither have happened. It’s 2025 – you can cultivate your algorithm to suit your interests by clicking and not clicking content that you enjoy and content that you do not. I speak for myself, but, I’m confident its an outlook shared by others – I create and broadcast what interests me and what I find funny or entertaining.
If everyone does that, then there’s enough for anyone with an interest to view. If everything produced is rainbows and sunshine with mouth agape applause then why not just have one outlet for the 12 people that enjoy that kind content instead.
