Woman who was called out by fitness influencer says she's been flooded with death threats and hate
Rhiannon Ingle
Featured Image Credit: thejoeyswoll/TikTok
If you think going to the gym is intimidating, it just got a whole lot more stressful for one woman.
The woman has received online hate after being called out by a fitness instructor.
After posting a TikTok claiming a man she spotted while working out was a 'gym creeper', Nora Love says she's been sent death threats.
Watch the fitness instructor's response below:
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Going to the gym can already be a bit of a daunting experience.
With complicated machinery, lots of people and a whole bunch of rules - it can be more stressful than stress-alleviating.
This was definitely true for one woman who posted footage of a certain gym encounter which has since caused a massive backlash online.
Nora Love recently took to TikTok to share her alleged experience of a 'gym creeper' to her few thousand followers.
She filmed an old man sitting on some gym equipment and claimed he was 'staring at girls' while they were working out.
However, Joey Swoll, a famous bodybuilder who is the self-titled 'CEO of body positivity', caught light of Love's video and called her out.
Known for calling out people who call out others at the gym, Swoll stitched Love's original video and shared it with his 6.4 million followers.
He captioned the the TikTok: "You never know someone’s story or what they’re going through. Stop this."
Responding to Love's claims over the 'gym creeper', Swoll said there was 'no way' he was looking at the woman in question.
"Could you imagine if this was the other way around and he did this to you?" he added.
The stitched video has now been viewed over 6.3 million times.
The viral video led to many Joey Swoll fans sending Love hate messages online.
Speaking to Insider, Love claimed that Swoll's response amplified a 'fake narrative'.
She said: "He shared my video on his platform with a fake narrative, making me out to be the bad guy."
Explaining her side of the story, she added that Swoll was making out that she was being 'rude or cruel' and even 'harassing' the old man she had filmed.
"Which is not what was happening at all," Love explained.
The avalanche of online harassment has led Love to now delete all her social media - even her Pinterest page.
Not only had she been receiving hateful messages, but Love also claimed people she was receiving 'incessant phone calls'.
"They were going hard to try to find me with the intention of [...] making me lose my source of income," she alleged, "making me fear for my safety."
![Love claimed she 'feared for [her] safety'.](https://resizer.ladbiblegroup.com/unsafe/rs:fit:3840:0:0:0/g:sm/q:70/aHR0cHM6Ly9ldS1pbWFnZXMuY29udGVudHN0YWNrLmNvbS92My9hc3NldHMvYmx0OTQ5ZWE4ZTE2ZTQ2MzA0OS9ibHQwOTdhNmZiNTBkMmY4ODAyLzYzZTYyYmNmMjhjZWVkM2FkZTBiM2Y0ZC9TY3JlZW5zaG90XzIwMjMtMDItMTBfYXRfMTEuMzMuMzMucG5n.webp)
Love told the news outlet that the hate didn't just stop at insults and explicit messages but went as far as death threats.
She called the past couple of weeks an 'absolute nightmare' and revealed she'd never had more panic attacks in her life.
Joey Swoll has since posted a statement to Instagram after criticisms that he was 'fuelling misogyny online'.
He maintained that his content is geared around making a 'positive gym experience for all'.
"If you actually go to my page," he wrote, "you'll see I've done an equal amount of videos on men and women because gender has nothing to do with it.
"I have no agenda other than making the gym a safer place for EVERYONE. Period."
UNILAD has contacted Joey Swoll for a comment.