Membership at Princeton Club Madison West terminated after hate speech altercation

The Princeton Club West in Madison revoked one man’s membership after an argument centered around racial slurs broke out in the locker room Thursday morning.

A Facebook live captured the moments just after it happened.

"No? You don't want to say anything about that?" Barclay Pollak, the man who had turned on the Facebook Live stream said.

Pollak said he had finished his morning workout and was getting ready for the day.

"I was in the locker room, when behind me, I heard the 'N-word,' very loud,” Pollak said.

He went on to describe the ensuing events. Pollak said he gave the man a disapproving look and they got into a verbal fight.

"He responded to me as he was heading towards the exit, 'I'm just listening to rap music, boy,'" Pollak

The Facebook video captured Pollak reporting the incident to gym staff.

"Until people like him are gone, I'm not going to come here anymore," Pollak said to the desk worker with the phone at his side.

The manager of the club's west location reached out to him a few hours later.

"He reached out to apologize and he reached out to let me know that they would be revoking the individuals membership and they would no longer be on premises," Pollak said.

Princeton Club sent NBC15 a statement Friday about the incident. It was the same statement that the gym commented on under Pollak’s Facebook live. It reads:

It says in part:

"Considering everything we've seen take place over the course of the last several weeks, to still choose to use that language is heartbreaking and shows just how much work that still needs to be done,” Pollak said.

Pollak said he was glad to see Princeton Club staff react the way they did to the situation. He added that there were a few other people the locker room who saw and heard the argument but didn't say anything.

“To hear another human being treated like this and choose to do nothing, they’re complicate,” Pollak said. “If you’re not part of the solution, you’re part of the problem”