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Home » Fitness » VIDEO: Fitness icon and Oakville resident Hal Johnson recalls racist incidents that led to Body Break creation – InsideHalton.com

For 32 years, Hal Johnson, co-creator and host of Body Break along with Joanne McLeod, have inspired Canadians to live a healthy and fit lifestyle.

What many didnt know is that his personal brushes with racism was the reason how the popular fitness television series came to be.

It was started to combat racism, he said in a video posted to YouTube. It was the number one reason that we started Body Break.

In the video, Johnson shared his experience dealing with racism. Back in 1988, he applied for a position as a sports reporter with TSN. Not more than a few hours after he was initially told that he got the job, he said the offer was rescinded.

... because they already have a black reporter, they dont want to have two black reporters, the Oakville resident said of the reasoning.

TSN issued an apology to Johnson on Twitter.

We apologize to Hal Johnson for the racism he experienced at TSN at beginning in 1988, a shameful part of our past, and thank him for sharing his story as a reminder of the impact of racism in Canadian media that continues today, said the network in a tweet.

We recognize that even 30 years later, there is still much work to do to improve our commitment to on-air and editorial diversity. As a first step, TSN is part of Bell Medias recently announced content diversity task force, which as part of its mandate is committed to amplifying voices from BIPOC on-air talent.

For Johnson, it wasnt a one-off incident.

He also described in the video the time he took part in a commercial shoot in the same year. Johnson said he was asked to switch place with a white guy during one scene because the client didnt want him to sit next to a white girl.

Not longafter, when he came back to TSN to pitch for Body Break, which drew inspiration from the previous incidents, he was told that the Canadian public wasnt ready for a black and white couple.

Eventually, ParticipACTION picked up the series and they did 65 episodes of Body Break.

Without the racism that they displayed all of those little things created Body Break and were happy to have hopefully given health and fitness tips to Canadians for 32 years, but also enlightened you that we all can live, work and play together regardless of our ability, disability, or skin colour, he said.

See the article here:
VIDEO: Fitness icon and Oakville resident Hal Johnson recalls racist incidents that led to Body Break creation - InsideHalton.com

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Home » Fitness » VIDEO: Fitness icon and Oakville resident Hal Johnson recalls racist incidents that led to Body Break creation – InsideHalton.com