6 Planet Fitness gyms in Florida evacuated over bomb threats

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office responded to at least six bomb threats alleged to be part of a nationwide hoax perpetrated against Planet Fitness.

Planet Fitness, a discount gym chain, has been at the center of controversy for weeks and is now allegedly being subjected to a series of bomb threats.

At least 17 Planet Fitness locations have reported recent bomb threats, according to Action News Jax. Police in Jacksonville, Florida, have investigated several of the threats, all taking place within a small area in the city. First Coast News also reported multiple locations in Orlando, Florida, received similar threats, all of which led to evacuations.

The Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office said that it had “responded to several locations in the city in reference to a reported bomb investigation which has since been determined not to be a threat. Occupants of those locations voluntarily evacuated and JSO K9s responded.”

The gym chain is known for low prices, pizza and bagel giveaways, and the “lunk” alarm; which sounds an air raid siren any time a member “grunts, drops weights, or judges” another member.

However, the fitness chain had a rough March 2024 when it dropped $400 million in stock in just five days on the heels of banning Patricia Silva, who complained about a biological male shaving in the female locker room.

The Daily Mail revealed Planet Fitness allegedly has a transgender policy that the “discomfort” of sharing a change room with a member of the opposite sex is “not a reason to deny access to the transgender member.”

Following the incident, Silva claimed that Planet Fitness “canceled [her] membership and allowed the pedo to stay!!” Silva did not offer evidence that the individual in question was a pedophile.

In reaction to the events, Elon Musk responded to a post about the woman and said that Planet Fitness “sounds like a creepy place.”

The alleged Planet Fitness operations manual also stated that staff should “work with members and employees to address” the discomfort of transgender members “using the same locker room facilities” as the opposite sex.

The gym also reportedly wrote that it hoped to “foster a climate of understanding” while directing its staff to adhere to “names, titles,” and “pronouns” of transgender members.

For example, the alleged document said that a “transgender woman shall be referred to by her preferred name and female pronouns,” and a transgender man should be referred to by “his preferred name and male pronouns.”

“Planet Fitness reserves the right to terminate a person’s membership immediately for any violation of this policy,” the page read, with a date of September 2014.