Toby Addison: Bizarre reason man was kicked out of gym

May 2024 · 2 minute read

A UK man has recalled the mortifying moment years prior when he was kicked out of the gym for “creepily” staring at a woman – despite the fact he cannot see.

Toby Addison, who shares his life as a blind person on his TikTok account, @blindtobes, said he was “minding his own business” during a workout when he heard a woman say: “Oh, do you like the view?”

“Obviously I don’t really know where I’m looking a lot of the time,” the 21-year-old content creator shared on the Happy Hour Podcast as reported by the New York Post.

“I was just staring right ahead and unfortunately there was a woman doing some exercises.”

The psychology and counselling student was shocked when he realised she had come over to talk to him, adding that he obviously didn’t know what kind of exercises she was doing.

“There’s a bit of a culture around [catching] out gym creeps,” Addison acknowledged.

The active gym-goer knows his eyes tend to “stare into the distance” sometimes when he’s concentrating on something, hence why the woman probably thought he was staring.

“I don’t really know where I am looking a lot of the time unless I am talking to someone like I know that I’m talking to you so I am trying to look in your direction,” he said.

Addison said the woman told him to “shut up” then went and got the manager who asked him to leave.

Thankfully, he was a guest of a friend at the gym that day – and said he has a “good relationship” with the staff at his current gym.

In a TikTok video, Addison said he understood why the woman would have wanted to call him out for making her feel uncomfortable, but he wishes she had tried to be more understanding of his situation.

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“It’s so sad that some women feel uncomfortable or anxious when in the gym because of a small percentage of people who have acted inappropriately,” he said.

“It’s also really sad that awareness around disabilities just isn’t good enough at the minute, and when you mix the two together you make situations like I described way more likely to occur.”

This article originally appeared on the New York Post and was reproduced with permission.

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