Motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson has announced it is abandoning its “diversity, equity and inclusion” policy after heavy criticism, another example of companies backtracking on these issues in the United States.
It’s not easy to make a difference when you’re a historic company. Or even a symbol of your country, in this case the United States. This is what the legendary motorcycle brand Harley-Davidson has seen, when it recently announced that it was abandoning its “diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI)” policy.
“We are saddened by the negativity that has reigned on social networks in recent weeks and which aims to divide the Harley-Davidson community,” the company wrote in a statement published on X (ex-Twitter) on Monday, August 19, before explaining that it will not practice “recruitment quotas when hiring” in order to promote diversity, or that it will not apply this type of criterion in the choice of its subcontractors.
“We remain committed to listening to all members of our community as we continue our shared journey as the world’s most desirable motorcycle brand,” the statement concluded, featuring the slogan “United we ride.”
CEO accused of turning Harley into a ‘woke’ company
Behind this Harley-Davidson smear campaign, we find a certain Robby Starbuck, who can be presented as a conservative activist and accused of conspiracy. He made a controversial documentary film “The war on children”, broadcast on X since February 2024 and highly recommended by Elon Musk himself. Documentary that has just been “censored” by Jeff Bezos’ Prime Video, as its author complained in
At the end of last July, in
He then goes on to list a long list of criticisms of actions taken, from supporting “events” or “LGBTQ+ causes” to this strategy aimed “openly at having fewer white suppliers, resellers and employees.”
A youtuber blows up his Harleys
To express his resentment against this “woke turn”, an American YouTuber, from the channel “Columbia War Machine”, even undertook to literally machine-gun a motorcycle of the brand… before simply blowing it up.
His video, soberly titled “Harley Davidson Went Woke! So I Destroyed My Bike!!!”, published on August 14, has accumulated more than a million views.
An extreme case, but one that shows how far hostility towards the brand can go in this context. This YouTuber had already destroyed a Ford pickup decorated with a rainbow flag in the same way last year, also accusing the manufacturer of sinking into wokeism after an ad that was too “gay friendly” for his taste.
And since he owned a second Harley… the YouTuber posted another video of a motorcycle being destroyed on August 22. In the introduction, he congratulates Robby Starbuck on his actions and the abandonment of DEI goals with the press release published three days earlier. However, he deplores the fact that the CEO of Harley-Davidson, who is “so far left that he needs to resign or get fired,” remains in his position.
Hence this resurgence of violence, this time with still large-calibre weapons of all kinds, but an end to the cannon and disguises of the war of independence.
Microsoft and Meta also back down
Before this Harley episode, Robby Starbuck had led campaigns against other companies, which he accused of this “woke corporatism”, notes an article in Courrier International, citing a Harley-Davidson competitor, Polaris, the tractor manufacturer John Deere and an agricultural products brand, Tractor Supply. Companies also forced to backtrack on their actions aimed at promoting diversity.
Faced with pressure from a certain public, large companies such as Microsoft, Meta and Zoom have also reduced their budget dedicated to this type of action. Disney is also regularly criticized for an alleged “woke turn” by activist funds.
Finally, we can cite the example of the boss of Blackrock, forced to increase his security spending: the manager would in fact be targeted by “anti-woke” people who criticize him for developing financial investments based on environmental and social criteria.
Related News :