Dirty Kanza founder fired over controversial post calling Rayshard Brooks shooting ‘justified’
EMPORIA, Kan. (KSNT) – Life Time, the group that owns Emporia’s Dirty Kanza bike race, has fired one of the founders of the event after a controversial comment he made on social media.
Jim Cummins, who founded the Dirty Kanza, made a post on his personal facebook page in which he called the shooting of Rayshard Brooks justified.
Brooks was killed by an Atlanta police officer after a struggle in which he resisted arrest in a Wendy’s parking lot and then pointed a taser at the officer while running away.
Dirty Kanza announced over the weekend that Life Time had decided to fire Cummins because of the post.
“Following a review of the post made by the founder of Dirty Kanza we found it to be inappropriate and insensitive, and we stand against it as an organization. As an outcome of our investigation, we have parted ways with this individual.” Life Time said
In their post, Dirty Kanza said “We commit to continuing to learn, listen & grow toward making our sport a more inclusive place where we all feel welcome and represented. We have an opportunity to do better and be better, and we plan on doing just that.”
The Dirty Kanza is one of the largest bike races in the nation, with the race’s organizers referring to it as the “World’s Premier Gravel Grinder.” The event usually takes place in June, but was postponed to the weekend of September 10th due to coronavirus.