By Dana Rieck
St. Louis Post-Dispatch
ST. LOUIS COUNTY, Mo. — The police chief here is reestablishing his department’s relationship with a fitness company boycotted last year over an obscenity-filled rant against women in policing.
St. Louis County police Chief Kenneth Gregory sent a staff-wide email Friday evening explaining his decision to rebuild ties with 1st Phorm — a local nutrition and fitness supplement company — and begin accepting donations from the business again.
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He acknowledged not everyone would agree with him.
“When I began this writing, I said that the decision to break ties with 1st Phorm was an easy one,” he wrote. “Now, after thoughtful consideration of all the statements, emails, and perspectives shared, I have made the decision to re-establish our relationship with 1st Phorm. I want to be clear: unlike my initial decision, this was a hard decision and involved significant deliberation from both ends.”
His email highlighted the company’s long-term financial support of charitable police organizations and said that since wealthy fitness mogul Andy Frisella’s podcast rant a year ago, 1st Phorm has removed the co-founder from any kind of public leadership role.
Gregory also noted some officers feel that Frisella’s apology was not genuine and that it would be disrespectful to the women of the agency to reassociate with the company. Other officers argued they should not “sell ourselves” to benefit from 1st Phorm donations.
“As some of you said, the statements made by Mr. Frisella will never be forgotten, nor should they be,” the chief wrote. “But, under certain circumstances, I am also open to second chances.”
The chief declined to discuss his decision with the Post-Dispatch . Sal Frisella, Andy’s brother and 1st Phorm’s CEO, did not immediately return a call for comment.
St. Louis County Executive Sam Page on Monday did not comment on the chief’s decision, but in a statement said Andy Frisella’s comments were “alarming and inconsistent with our values in St. Louis County .”
In the Sept. 12, 2024, Real AF podcast episode, Andy Frisella said women should not be cops and that men could “end their (expletive) life” if female officers weren’t armed with guns and badges.
Andy Frisella is a St. Louis native who co-founded Supplement Superstore and 1st Phorm nutritional supplements. He also created the popular “75 Hard” fitness challenge and has founded six businesses that generate over $200 million in annual revenue, according to one of his websites.
Sgt. Emily Gilyon, a veteran St. Louis County cop, posted his podcast rant on social media last year.
Gilyon, an officer for almost 25 years, told the Post-Dispatch at the time she was “disappointed and disgusted.” The sergeant tagged 21 regional police departments in her Facebook post featuring the 90-second video clip. It was shared more than 60 times.
She declined to comment on the chief’s decision when reached on Monday.
The backlash over Andy Frisella’s comments was swift, even after he edited them out of the podcast and posted an apology — which was widely criticized as insincere.
In the 12-minute apology recording, he said he regretted the comments. Andy Frisella said he edited them out of the podcast not because of “the heat” he received but because he didn’t want people to think it was acceptable to talk about and behave that way toward police.
Soon after, both St. Louis and St. Louis County police chiefs condemned the rant and said they would sever all ties with his fitness companies and donations. St. Louis police did not immediately confirm on Monday whether the department has made any decisions about reestablishing ties with 1st Phorm.
Officers said they were boycotting the fitness and supplement company — some even threw away already-purchased products.
Club Fitness at the time said it had removed all 1st Phorm -branded products from its shelves. It also did not immediately return a request for comment.
In his email Friday, Gregory said that in the last few months he’s had two meetings about the issue. One was with the department’s approximately 125 female officers and his deputy chief, Juan Cox. The other was at 1st Phorm with the department’s female officers, Andy Frisella and 1st Phorm leadership.
The chief said he also received numerous emails from female officers about the issue, and “the feedback was varied.”
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