A Black North Carolina woman at a gym was told she was counting reps too loudly, and viewers believe the white man who chastised her only targeted her because of her race.
In an Instagram Reel posted Oct. 21, Charlotte-based wellness coach Dee Jalla showed herself doing leg lifts with another Black woman when she caught the attention of a man running on a nearby treadmill.
Tucked into a corner, he took out his earbuds and called over to her, “Sorry, can you keep it down a little bit?”
Jalla struggled to hear him above the din of the machinery, so he called out again.
“You’re a little loud,” he said. “I can hear you through my headphones.”
Jalla replied, “Oh, really? Damn, you gotta get some new ones.” Her snappy response amused countless viewers.
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Though the exchange was brief, many people on social media believe she was told to quiet down because she was Black, and the earbuds were the tell.
“He literally took out his headphones to hear her,” noted a person on Threads, echoing dozens of comments.
“He heard you over that loud-ass treadmill and his podcast? Ain’t no way!” exclaimed one commenter. “He saw you and decided he had an issue.”
“He wanted a problem,” a third agreed, hashtagging the post “rentfree” and adding, “even when we are not trying.”
Some people sided with the man, bemoaning obnoxious gymgoers who yell during reps and don’t follow basic workout etiquette.
“They throw other people off,” one person said.
But many other commenters pointed out the obvious: gyms are loud.
In fact, scientific studies from the Hearing Health Foundation have found that some gyms and group fitness classes exceed 85 decibels.
That’s loud enough to put a person’s hearing at risk, comparable to a lawn mower, an oncoming subway train, or a rock concert.
If gyms are that loud, they asked, why single out one person counting reps?
Jalla maintained she wasn’t yelling loudly and expressed her confusion over the incident in the caption, asking, “What’s wrong with people?”
As one person quipped, “Leave the earbuds in and leave Black people alone. Problem solved.”
