David Barton Picks On Someone His Own Size

Don't get me wrong, I hate kids think kids belong in "kid-appropriate" places only as much as the next guy. But even I was disgusted when I ran into a friend of mine on Wednesday with her visiting sister, brother-in-law and 3-year-old nephew, and they told me about a run-in they'd had with New York's famed gym proprietor David Barton. It seems that earlier in the day, my friend's nephew needed to make an urgent potty run. Realizing they were right by the David Barton gym on Astor Place -- of which she is a longtime member -- they took the little boy inside. The receptionist hesitated, saying the gym has a "No Children" policy, but then realizing the urgency of the situation told my friend and family to go ahead downstairs to the bathroom.

While they were en route to the women's bathroom, my friend noticed David Barton looking at them. Then, as the boy was pooping, the same woman came flying into the bathroom and announced, "You have to leave RIGHT NOW." As the boy's mom was washing her hands, the woman preceded to hand her some paper towels in an effort to hasten their exit, then asked her to please pick up the boy. (Clearly she was doing what David Barton told her to do.)

Was this really necessary? No one was trying to take the kid to a spin class or leave him to wander around while they were working out. You have a son yourself, David, yet you have no compassion for a fellow parent? (Fortunately, the little boy had just finished, but I suppose David would have been OK with dragging the kid out mid-defecation. At least that might have appealed to the scat crowd at the place, and we know how he likes to cater to the sexual whims of his client base, so long as they're not "fucking dykes.")

Barton's been described as the man who made working out cool, but with the gay A-list increasingly procreating, dickish behavior like this is likely to fall out of favor faster than his company had to file for bankruptcy.