It’s never a good idea for anyone to aggressively “slap box” a child-like individual with an intellectual or developmental disability. But it doesn’t get much worse than when a 315-pound bodybuilder currently on a massive steroid cycle decides to do it. What was Rich Piana thinking??
The confrontation between Piana and Jason Genova happened at the 2016 Europa Games Get Fit & Sports Expo in Orlando on the weekend of April 29, 2016. Piana and Genova are both social media celebrities in the world of bodybuilding and fitness. Piana was in town to meet with fans, promote his personal brand as well as his supplement company 5% Nutrition. Genova simply wanted to meet Piana.
Piana is by far the biggest in both physical dimensions and social media reach. He is one of the most popular bodybuilders in this space with almost 700,000 YouTube subscribers, 792,000 Instagram followers and 1.1 million Facebook likes.
Genova’s reach pales in comparison with only about 30,000 YouTube followers. Genova is the leader of the Genoverse with a cult following of loyal fans who call themselves “Genova’s Witnesses”. Genova’s day job is as a bag boy for the Publix supermarket but he moonlights as an aspiring bodybuilder who is on a mission to turn professional.
An explanation of the popularity and appeal of Genova’s YouTube videos are beyond the scope of the article but suffice it to say that viewers are entertained by Genova’s impossible quest to become a professional bodybuilder. Everyone, with the exception of Genova, knows that he does not have a chance. And given that most people suspect Genova has some type of undisclosed intellectual or developmental disability, everyone is laughing at Genova. The joke is always on him. Except when he found a way to provoke Piana.
Rich Piana Slap Boxes Jason Genova
Jason Genova cowers after being slapped in the face by Rich Piana
Bodybuilders, especially steroid-using bodybuilders, always have to be particularly cautious about unintentionally perpetuating the damaging stereotypes such as that of the bodybuilder with “roid rage”.
Regardless of the understandable reasons Piana may have had for acting the way he did, the images of an imposing and ridiculously muscular 315-pound bodybuilder abusing a childlike man with obvious impairments does not make for good entertainment value on YouTube.
Piana used his Facebook account to describe the death threats he and his wife received as a result of certain actions by Genova that took place last year. Piana had good reason to be upset with Genova.
“A order 66 is when @lordvader25 orders all of his followers to attack your social media. 100’s of people leave fucked up comments on all of your social media with intent to destroy it! The comments are “we are going to cut your head off and piss down your throat” we will put a end to you” they also attacked @sara.piana social media and threatened her and her life!”
Piana was forced to apologize in a 30-minute YouTube after he received a huge backlash in negative publicity from the incident.
Piana insisted that his actions would have been justified if Genova did not suffer from a “disability”. Most of Piana’s critics had zero knowledge of the context behind the confrontation. Perhaps the reaction would have been somewhat different. But most likely it would have been the same given the societal biases against steroid users.
Piana was apparently on a massive steroid cycle he was on when he assaulted Genova. His fans love his honesty about his use of steroids. Yet when it comes to any real or feigned aggressive actions,, Piana’s admission of the details of his 16-week “Get BIG as FUCK” steroid cycle this year doesn’t really help his case.
The “BIG as FUCK” steroid cycle that he told everyone that he was doing in the first part of 2016 included the use of various bodybuilding drugs such as the injectable steroids Deca Durabolin (nandrolone decanoate), Equipoise (boldenone undecylenate), Masteron (drostanolone propionate), Primobolan Depot (methenolone enanthate), Proviron (mesterolone) testosterone cypionate, testosterone enanthate and trenbolone enanthate; the oral steroids Anadrol (oxymetholone), Anavar (oxandrolone) and Dianabol (methandienone); the peptides human chorionic gonadrotropin (hCG) and Serostim-brand human growth hormone (hGH); and the anti-aromatase inhibitor Arimidex (anastrozole).
Piana’s Get BIG as FUCK steroid cycle
It’s just bad press for the bodybuilding community when a 315-pound guy on that many steroids picks on a developmentally-challenged person like Genova. But who knows? For Rich Piana, it may be yet one more example of his marketing genius.
In the aftermath of the Genova slap box incident, Piana garnered quite a bit of free publicity courtesy of several mainstream news and entertainment sites. A feature article in the sports website Deadspin followed a weekend article in British middle-market tabloid “The Daily Mail” and the Australian News Corp-owned News.com.au.
The articles weren’t all positive and they tended to focus on Piana’s steroid use. But all publicity seems to be good publicity for Piana. His social media likes, subscribers and followers have soared since his confrontation with Genova.
Maybe the Piana-Genova event was all part of Piana’s bigger marketing plan for social media domination in the bodybuilding space?
A Recap of the Piana and Genova slap box event:
Piana: “Are we live right now?”
Genova: “Yeah, we are.”
Piana: “It’s good to meet you. Let me ask you. You did an order 66 on me, right?”
Genova: “No.”
Piana: “Didn’t you do that once?”
Genova: “No.”
Piana: “You never did?”
Genova: “No.”
Piana: “You swear?”
Genova: “I did!”
Piana: “You did. Why would you do that?”
Genova: “I was just joking.”
Piana: “You’re just joking?”
Genova: “I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m sorry.”
Piana: “Let me ask you a question: When you do that, you kind of fuck with people’s social media, right? Do you think that’s cool?”
Genova: “No, it’s not cool.”
Piana: “So you’d never do that again,”
Genova: “No. I’ll never do it again.”
Piana: “You promise?”
Genova: “I promise.”
Piana: “Cause honestly, you like…”
Genova: “I hurt your feelings.”
Piana: “No, it doesn’t hurt my feelings. It just kinda pisses me off. You know?”
Genova: “I’m sorry.’
Piana: “I feel that I gotta do something back to you. Can I slap you around a little bit on camera? What do you think? Just a couple of slaps to make us even?”
Genova: “How about a posedown?”
Piana: “No. How about we slap box? For like 5 seconds?”
Genova: “All right.”
Piana: “You wanna slap box?”
Genova: “Yeah.’
Piana: “You ready?”
Genova: “Yeah.”
Piana: “Ok? You not going to press charges?”
Genova: “No.”
And 12 slaps to Genova’s face later, they hug and make up.
I’m not into bodybuilding, but that guy Rich, seems like a really nice person. I was sorry to hear that he died. He comes across as shown to Earth. I admire his values. You can’t threaten a guys family even in jest.