SoulCycle to offer classes supporting 'social justice causes' after 'difficult' week

SoulCycle is offering free classes that will benefit "social justice causes" after coming under fire for its owner's support of President Trump, The Daily Beast reports.

The fitness company's CEO, Melanie Whelan, in an email on Friday said it had been a "difficult" week following days of controversy over reports that its billionaire owner Stephen Ross would hold a Trump fundraiser. Whelan goes on to write that instructors are now being invited to teach a free class supporting a cause that is "true in their heart."

"We've spent 13 years building a community based on diversity, inclusion, acceptance and love," Whelan writes. "We know who we are, we know what we believe, and we deliver on those values every day. This is about our values. So today, we are responding in the best way we know how — with diversity, inclusion, acceptance, and love."

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Whelan adds that this will be a way that "our community can start to heal."

Reports that the owner of SoulCycle, as well as the fitness company Equinox, planned to fundraise for Trump drew outrage and calls for boycotts this week, with Ross releasing a statement saying that he is an "outspoken champion of racial equality, inclusion, diversity, public education and environmental sustainability."

Ross, Axios reported on Friday, has been "freaked out" by the backlash to his fundraiser and considered calling it off. But Trump insists he has nothing to worry about, saying on Friday that "the controversy makes Steve Ross hotter. He'll figure that out in about a week."