Halton Regional Police have laid assault charges after two well-known fitness influencers were caught in an altercation at a body building and strength training gym in Burlington.
A video, that went viral on spaces like Instagram, TikTok and others, shows Jeff Nippard, a natural bodybuilder, being hit in the throat by Mike Van Wyck, Drake’s former bodyguard and fellow bodybuilder at Pure Muscle + Fitness on Benson Drive (off the North Service Road, east of Appleby Line) on Sunday, Oct. 20.
Van Wyck was charged with two counts of assault after allegedly hitting both Nippard and his cameraman.
“Halton Regional Police Service has investigated an assault that took place at Pure Muscle Fitness in Burlington on October 20,” police responded, in an email, to BurlingtonToday. “As a result of that investigation a 43-year-old male of Etobicoke has been charged with two counts of assault.”
Van Wyck, an Etobicoke resident, is a retired professional bodybuilder and now trains clients. He was also a hip hop superstar and fellow Toronto native, and world-renowned musician Drake’s bodyguard for six years. He previously worked as a bouncer and in private security. Currently, he has 130,000 YouTube subscribers, and 287,000 Instagram followers. It should be noted that Van Wyck’s Instagram account is not showing up in searches, unless typed in exactly as it reads @bigmikevanwyck. He is also limiting comments on his posts.
Also a Canadian, B.C’s Jeff Nippard earned the title of Mr. Junior Canada for natural bodybuilding in 2012, and has gathered 5.84 million YouTube subscribers and 2.2 million Instagram followers. It’s difficult to look up a bodybuilding exercise and not see Nippard at the top of the results with a how-to video.
His most viewed video, How To Build Muscle And Lose Fat At The Same Time: Step By Step Explained, has amassed 15 million views in four years.
The two apparently butted heads over a dispute between a video Van Wyck had posted Science Based Scammers, and Nippard made a video response suggesting Van Wyck is wrong.
Pure Muscle + Fitness released a statement on Instagram on Monday as well.
“At Pure Muscle + Fitness, we have a strict zero-tolerance policy for violence and bullying,” the gym’s post reads. “We are deeply saddened by a recent incident involving unacceptable behaviour by a member. This individual was not employed by or formally associated with our gym, and we have permanently removed their access to our facility, including any privileges to train clients.”
