JOHANNESBURG – Virgin Active has defended itself for booting out a member for wearing a contentious political T-shirt, but says it “may have called this incident incorrectly and regret what happened in the club”.

This after a furore erupted between the managment of the popular Old Edwardians gym and Muhammed Desai, a gym member, when he was asked to leave the club because of his political T-shirt.

Police were called in to remove Desai, who was wearing a Young Communist League T-shirt displaying an image of Chris Hani, a YCL logo and a Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) logo.

At the back – it read: “From the coast of Cape Town to the coast of Gaza in solidarity with Palestinians against Israeli apartheid.”

“It is a very difficult situation when you are in it and each one is taken on its merits,” said Virgin Active spokesperson Les Aupiais.

“Categorically, we have said to Mr Desai that it&39;s not what he wears on his T-shirt – T-shirts were never the issue here – it was about conduct and behaviour and we believed at the time, given the reaction to the T-shirt, we needed to diffuse a potentially threatening situation.”

To listen to the full interview watch the video above.