Peloton Videos Lack Closed Captioning, Class Action Lawsuit Claims

A deaf man from New York has filed a class action lawsuit claiming that Peloton videos, which are not closed-captioned, violate his civil rights and those of other deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers.

Phillip Sullivan Jr. says he watched several Peloton videos in his apartment – including “10 Minutes Stretching,” “2 Minute Warm-Up,” “3 Minute Warm-up,” and “10 Minute Arm Toning,” – and attempted to exercise along with them, but found it impossible because the videos lack closed captioning. Being a deaf man, he was unable to follow along with the exercise videos and could not comprehend what exactly he was supposed to be doing and how it should feel, among other things.

The videos are featured on the Peloton App offered by Peloton Interactive Inc., a fitness equipment and technology company that is perhaps best known for its high-end stationary bicycle.

Among its other offerings is the Peloton App, which can be accessed on smart televisions, computers and mobile devices and features dozens of exercise videos on demand. Consumers pay a subscription fee to use the service.

“Due to the Peloton App’s inaccessibility, [Sullivan] cannot access certain audio portions of videos … Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals may thus require an interpreter … or require assistance from a friend or family member to relate video content,” Sullivan’s class action lawsuit says. The inaccessibility allegedly violates state and federal laws.

Specifically, Sullivan and his legal team accuse Peloton Interactive Inc. with being in violation of New York’s Human Rights Law and Civil Rights Law.

The class action lawsuit was filed in New York State Supreme Court on Dec. 10. Sullivan and his lawyer are seeking to represent other consumers who have been similarly harmed by the inaccessibility of the Peloton videos.

Ultimately, they are asking the state’s Supreme Court justices to issue an order that would force Peloton to update the Peloton videos with closed captioning, removing all accessibility barriers to deaf and hard-of-hearing consumers.

Sullivan is also asking for damages to be assessed on Peloton and awarded to the plaintiffs to compensate them for the civil and human rights violations.

Some 36 million Americans have a hearing disability, and “just as buildings without ramps bar people who use wheelchairs, video content without captions excludes deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals,” the Sullivan class action lawsuit argues.

“Despite readily available accessible technology, such as the technology in use at other heavily trafficked mobile applications such as YouTube and Netflix … [Peloton] has failed to do the same,” the class action complaint goes on to say.

Sullivan’s lawyer says the access barriers that consumers with a hearing disability face when attempting to use the Peloton videos deny them “reasonable and equal access to the goods, services and benefits.”

In addition to the Sullivan case, Peloton is facing multiple other civil lawsuits and class actions nationwide. They include a class action filed in December 2019 by a group of owners of the company’s signature stationary bikes who claim the company is guilty of false advertising in claiming it has an “ever-growing” library of “classes” available on the machine.

That class action lawsuit was filed after Peloton removed more than half the classes it had been offering due to yet another lawsuit – this one filed by the National Music Publishers Association that said the company was violating copyrights by using music in its virtual classes without permission.

Are you deaf or hard-of-hearing? Have you faced accessibility barriers to Peloton videos or other Peloton products? Tell us about it in the comment section below.

Lead plaintiff Sullivan and the proposed Class Members are represented by C.K. Lee of Lee Litigation Group, PLLC.

The Peloton Videos Class Action Lawsuit is Phillip Sullivan, Jr., et al. v. Peloton Interactive, Inc. Case No. 160744/2020, in the Supreme Court of the State of New York, County of New York.

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