The leader of an invite-only fitness club has been blasted online, after a series of videos posted to Instagram showed a group of women supposedly using Maasai tribeswomen as "props."
The video shows members of the 'Skinny Bitch Collective' fitness club working out while on a Kenyan retreat, while local Maasai women stand nearby.
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The video was quickly deleted, but not before it was posted on to diet_prada - a separate Instagram account.
"Ummmm happy International Women's Day?" reads the caption
"Russell Bateman, the white male mastermind behind the invite-only fitness collective SBC (Skinny Bitch Collective) took a gang of seemingly cloned, pony-tailed white women on a retreat to Kenya.
"Among the sisterhood fostering activities like hot air balloon rides, chef-prepared organic meals, and dancing round a tree of life, they also managed to use the local Maasai people not only as backdrop, but as literal props in their fitness routine."
According to the post, some videos of the retreat were deleted, but showed the members of the Skinny Bitch Collective "writhing around the locals like an obstacle course."
"It's 2019 and apparently people still haven't learned that POC/ethnic groups don't exist to embellish already privileged lives."
The backlash was huge, with people accusing Mr Bateman of being "ignorant beyond comprehension," as well as "disgusting," and "shameful."
In a post to his Instagram, Mr Bateman said the video was supposed to promote a "cross-cultural exchange" but was misguided.
"It has been rightly pointed out that far from promoting a positive meeting of opposing cultures, we may have instead unintentionally played into a racial history of 'othering'".
Mr Bateman has since deleted his Instagram, although the website for the Skinny Bitch Collective is still operational.
Newshub.
