Thousands Sign Petition Against Horsham Gym Owner After D.C. Riot

HORSHAM, PA — More than 3,0000 people have signed a petition urging local businesses and other groups to end partnerships with the owner of Horsham Athletic Club after he organized a bus trip to Washington D.C. last week.

The trip to Wednesday's protests against certifying Joe Biden as the nation's next president was organized by Jim Worthington, an outspoken Trump supporter best known as owner of the larger Newtown Athletic Club.

The rally, which included a fiery speech from Trump himself, resulted in the deadly storming of the U.S. Capitol.

Worthington, the founder of the People 4 Trump political action committee, has faced criticism after he organized the trip of nearly 200 people to the rally. On Saturday, Worthington issued a statement saying that none of those people took part in the storming of the Capitol building.

The petition was launched Saturday by Greg Bullough, of Doylestown, who said schools, businesses and medical facilities should distance themselves from Worthington's athletic clubs.

It focuses primarily on the Newtown Athletic Club. But Worthington also owns Horsham Athletic Club.

"The owner of Newtown Athletic Club, a notorious supporter of Donald Trump, organized three busloads of seditionists to converge on the US Capitol on January 6th," Bullough posted on Facebook. "His club's web page has a large list of 'community partners' including businesses, medical providers, our community college, and private schools, all of whom he likes to be associated with."

Quaker School at Horsham is among the local groups listed as having partnerships with Worthington's gyms on the petition. Shortly before 4 p.m. on Monday, the petition had more than 3,000 signatures.

Monday afternoon, Bucks County Community College announced on social media that it "is no longer engaged in a community partnership agreement with the Newtown Athletic Club." On the petition, 11 other businesses or organizations were listed as having ended partnerships with the club.

Worthington also was in the public spotlight last month for his decision to keep his gyms open during a coronavirus-related shutdown order. Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Wolf, a Democrat, ordered the restrictions on indoor activities, including gyms, amid record COVID-19 case numbers in early December.

A longtime Republican donor, Worthington has been an avid and outspoken supporter of Trump. He hosted then-candidate Trump at Newtown Athletic Club for a campaign event in 2016 that reportedly cost Newtown Township almost $20,000 in overtime expenses.

He also played a hand in organizing the president's last-minute campaign visit in Washington Crossing a few days before November's election. After Democrat Joe Biden won the election, Worthington raised money for Trump's legal defense team — which has unsuccessfully challenged the election results in dozens of lawsuits — through the People 4 Trump political action committee he created.