BREAKING: Atilis Gym owner sentenced for keeping gym open during New Jersey lockdown

The Atilis gym has made headlines since the COVID pandemic started, after resisting shutdown orders from the state.

"We got one year probation for the crime of taking our doors off to prevent government goons from locking us out of our gym," said Smith, who added that the Atilis gym is open "and will remain open at any cost."

Smith was fined $1.2 million for those actions, and vowed to stay open anyway as what he described as a "f*ck you" to Democratic Governor Phil Murphy.

Smith even went so far as to give away free gym memberships to those who refused to get the vaccine. Smith made the decision after a local Krispy Kreme provided free donuts to those receiving the jab.

Smith described the attempts to shutdown his gym as "a complete tragedy" and "criminal."

"You are putting people out of business for good. You are making them reliant on big government. You are taking away their civil liberties under the guise of pretending like you care about public health," Smith said.

Smith appeared on Tucker Carlson last year, where he described how the state froze his assets over the COVID order.

"My partner and I checked the bank statement in the morning... The state took every dollar that we have... This money in our bank account does not come from memberships... This is donations and t-shirt sales... It is a clear and blatant violation of our constitutional laws to defend ourselves."

"We're going to continue to fight this no matter what," he said.