Furious bikers have turned their back on iconic motorcycle maker Harley-Davidson, accusing its CEO of ‘going woke.’
The growing movement – spearheaded by conservative influencer Robby Starbuck – cites CEO Jochen Zeitz’s support for hardline policies on trans care for kids, critical race theory, climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts.
Starbuck, 35, is now demanding the company drop its CEO – and is rallying motorcycle enthusiasts to his cause at the largest bikers’ event in the world, the 84th Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota.
‘Bikers @SturgisRally are going to be spreading the word about this,’ Starbuck vowed last week, just days before the 10-day event kicked off.
‘Harley is hoping this all blows over. Are y’all ready to give up, or make your voices heard?’
More and more bikers are saying they are ditching their Harley-Davidson motorcycles
They cite CEO Jochen Zeitz’s support for hardline policies on trans care for kids, critical race theory , climate change and diversity, equity and inclusion efforts
Starbuck’s rallying cry seemed to work, with one rally-goer telling him, ‘I rolled into South Dakota on my 2003 100th anniversary pre-woke edition Electra glide,
‘I heard [Harley-Davidson] Sturgis HQ is gonna be like Bud Light tent was last year,’ the rally-goer wrote, referencing the conservative boycott of the beer manufacturer following an ad featuring transgender influencer Dylan Mulvaney, according to USA Today.
Country music star Travis Tritt also called the accusations against Zeitz ‘disturbing.
‘I seriously doubt that pushing a DEI agenda will be very popular with any of the HOG members I know,’ he wrote.
‘Looking forward to discussing these issues with many of my Harley-Davidson owner friends @SturgisRally next week.’
Sean Strickland, former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion and a longtime Harley enthusiast, also shared a video to X saying he no longer supports the company.
‘I’ve owned Harleys most of my life, but I will never own a Harley again,’ he said in the video, calling Zeitz a ‘zealot.’
‘If you love America, you will not own a Harley,’ he said.
In a subsequent post, Strickland polled his more than 600,000 followers on whether he should sell his bike or destroy it.
‘Should I sell my Harley or blow it up with a machine gun?!?!’ he asked.
‘I will never ride Harley again unless they repent, which they won’t,’ the former UFC champ added.
‘If I sell my Harley, I’m just participating in this woke freedom-hating anti-American agenda.’
More than 80 percent of respondents voted that he should blow it up.
Sean Strickland, former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion and a longtime Harley enthusiast, shared a video saying he is ditching his Harley
Amid the uproar, Starbuck said the pressure is mounting on the Harley-Davidson board of directors to fire Zeitz.
‘At this point, it’s an act of self-preservation for Harley to reverse on wokeness,’ he wrote on Tuesday.
‘If they don’t, the brand is going to suffer in ways they can’t recover from anytime soon. Word is spreading among bikers, MMA circles, and now men are joking with other men about them owning Harleys.’
But as Zeitz retained his position, Starbuck vowed on Sunday to investigate the other members of the board.
‘They don’t seem to care that the CEO is destroying the Harley-Davidson brand, and now I’m curious why,’ he wrote.
Starbuck had accused Zeitz in a nearly 10-minute-long video of having a ‘total commitment’ to DEI policies in Harley-Davidson offices and the factories that make its trademark heavyweight bikes, which are designed for cruising on the highways.
This includes funding a recent Pride event in Pennsylvania, with face-painting and balloon twisting events for youngsters, as well as a ‘rage room’ where adults could ‘let off steam,’ he says.
The bike-maker has also partnered with political groups that push hard-left ideas, including the Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce, United Way and the Human Rights Campaign, he says.
Harley-Davidson money has therefore promoted sex-change procedures on children and anti-racism efforts against ‘whiteness’ and ‘Christian privilege,’ Starbuck alleges.
He went on to claim that DEI efforts have changed life inside the company of some 6,400 people.
Some 1,800 employees were trained on how to become an ‘LGBTQ+ ally,’ he said, while some sessions singled out white men for specific diversity-training.
The company also introduced employee resource groups (ERGs), which separate staff along racial, gender and sexual identity lines.
Additionally, Starbuck said the motorcycle company is gradually cutting its number of white employees, suppliers, and dealers.
Under Zeitz, the company also signed onto a Human Rights Campaign letter that Starbuck said ‘was meant to scare states away from passing laws that ban sex changes for kids and ban men from being able to follow girls into bathrooms.’
The movement is being led by conservative influencer Robby Starbuck
‘Harley-Davidson seems to have forgotten who their core customers are,’ Starbuck, a filmmaker who was also a 2022 Republican House candidate for Tennessee, said.
‘I don’t think the values at corporate reflect the values of nearly any Harley-Davidson bikers.’
Starbuck added: ‘Do Harley riders want the money they spend at Harley to be used later by corporate to push an ideology that’s diametrically opposed to their own values?’
The 121-year-old company, which is headquartered in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, did not answer DailyMail.com’s request for comment.
Zeitz has previously said Harley-Davidson needed to change to attract younger customers
But Zeitz, who was hired in 2020 after successfully turning around athletic shoe company Puma, has said Harley-Davidson needs to change to attract younger customers.
‘We care about the planet because we ride in nature,’ he said in a Q&A with Morgan Stanley in April 2023.
‘And if you want to be successful, you have to think long-term.’
With that in mind, Zeitz has charted a course for Harley-Davidson based on sustainability.
It launched its LiveWire brand of electric motorcycles five years ago, and Zeitz has set a goal to make all of its vehicles run on electricity by 2030.
Many Harley-Davidson customers now decorate their motorcycles with rainbow flags, and they make frequent appearances at Pride events, ridden by such groups as Dykes on Bikes.
The iconic firm was established by childhood friends William Harley and Arthur Davidson, with the production of their first motorcycle in a small wooden shed in Milwaukee in 1903.
It grew its influence in American society by gaining contracts with the US Postal Service and police departments between 1910 – 1960, and the riders’ use of long boots and saddlebags made it fit in with the imagery of the American West.
