F45 fitness studio in Serangoon Garden apologises for racially insensitive Deepavali video

The video has drawn flak from many online.

Fiona Tan | November 05, 2021, 02:18 PM

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The F45 fitness studio in Serangoon Garden has issued an apology after it came under fire for putting up a racially insensitive video during the Deepavali festive period.

Racially insensitive video on Deepavali

The fitness studio, which is part of a chain, uploaded a 14-second Instagram Story video featuring two women.

In the short video, the two women, presumably members of the studio, could be seen shaking their heads side to side, while saying "Happy Deepavali".

Other voices can be heard laughing in the background.

Whilst doing the head movement, one of the women said: "My head/ hair cannot turn".

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Studio apologises

While the Instagram Story is no longer on the studio's Instagram page, it was reposted by Facebook page Wake Up, Singapore.

The video have since garnered over 400 comments criticising it for being insensitive.

In response to the video, the Serangoon Garden South F45 branch put up a statement on their Instagram Story.

The note said that while the branch does "many fun videos" with their members, their intention was never to "make fun, or hurt anyone's feelings".

The branch apologised and said it was "very sorry for the mistakes" and hoped to seek the public's forgiveness.

You can read F45 Serangoon Garden full statement below:

"F45 has always been a family friendly place to exercise and we do many fun videos with our members. However we have received feedback that this video is racially insensitive. Our intentions were never to make fun or hurt anyone's feelings. Deepavali is the festival of lights and love.

We are very sorry for the mistakes and hope to seek your forgiveness."

Image screenshot from @f45_training_serangoongdnsouth/Instagram

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Top image from @wakeupsingapore/Instagram and @f45_training_serangoongdnsouth/Instagram