Peloton CEO apologizes after Thanksgiving ride struggles with demand

“We let you down,” CEO Barry McCarthy said following world record attempt.

by Andrew Webster

Nov 23, 2023, 10:46 PM UTC

Photo by Smith Collection/Gado/Getty Images

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Andrew Webster is an entertainment editor covering streaming, virtual worlds, and every single Pokémon video game. Andrew joined The Verge in 2012, writing over 4,000 stories.

Many Peloton users were unable to get into Thursday’s Thanksgiving ride, prompting the company’s CEO to apologize. At 10AM ET Peloton kicked off its 10th annual “Turkey Burn” event, with the goal of breaking the Guiness World Record for “largest live cycling class.” But the company struggled with the demand, and many users were unable to participate at all. “We let you down,” CEO Barry McCarthy said in a statement.

According to McCarthy, over 37,000 people were able to participate, while it’s unclear how many couldn’t get in. “The number of members trying to join the ride overwhelmed our technical infrastructure and we were unable to support all those attempting to participate in the class,” he said. The Peloton status page notes “elevated errors with live classes” for about an hour starting just a few minutes after the class kicked off, and resolving at 11:07AM ET. Some users who got into the event also noted technical issues while it was live. At the time of writing everything seems to be operational.

For those who couldn’t get in, Peloton posted in its Instagram stories that the class is now available on-demand, while an encore version of the Turkey Burn will kick off at 10AM ET on Friday.

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