Harley-Davidson Hires DEI Leaders After Vowing to Eliminate Diversity Programs
Harley-Davidson appointed executives with deep DEI backgrounds after promising to end diversity initiatives, sparking renewed boycott from conservative activists who say the company betrayed its core riders.
Harley-Davidson vowed to eliminate its diversity programs in August 2024. Then the motorcycle maker hired a CEO and chief brand officer whose careers were built expanding those very initiatives. Conservative activist Robby Starbuck exposed the contradiction on June 3, reigniting a boycott that underscores the company's 2024 DEI rollback as a tactical concession rather than genuine ideological change.
Starbuck posted a video declaring Harley-Davidson deserved another reckoning.
"Harley-Davidson said they were dropping all these crazy woke policies I exposed," he stated. "I regret to inform you unfortunately today I am going to have to expose them again." He warned of "MUCH more" allegations to come in the weeks ahead.
The activist focused his criticism on CEO Artie Starrs, brought on in August 2025 to steer the struggling motorcycle manufacturer. "Their new CEO hire literally had DEI and woke policy deeply embedded in both of his most recent stops as CEO of Topgolf and Pizza Hut," Starbuck asserted.
Starrs served as CEO of Topgolf from 2021 to 2025, during which the company supported Pride events and LGBTQ+ golf tournaments. As Global CEO of Pizza Hut from 2019 to 2021, he oversaw the launch of "Empowering Educators" antiracism resources developed with First Book and American University's Antiracist Research and Policy Center. A separate 2019 Pizza Hut and First Book initiative featured a children's book by Karamo Brown of Netflix's "Queer Eye," titled "I Am Perfectly Designed." Pizza Hut also appointed its first Chief Equity Officer during Starrs' tenure.
Harley's Chief Brand Officer Marcus Fischer, appointed Dec. 8, 2025, previously served as CEO of advertising agency Carmichael Lynch. The AAF Mosaic Award page documents his DEI initiatives: yearlong unconscious bias training for all staff, a Diversity and Inclusion Action League with 30 percent participation, blind resume processes, and partnerships with The BrandLab to diversify recruiting. Under Fischer's leadership, the number of employees of color doubled and women held more than 60 percent of management positions. Starbuck also claims Carmichael Lynch held an office drag show raising over $12,000 for LGBTQ+ groups and sent a representative to Cannes for a presentation on "the stereotypes of masculinity."
These appointments directly contradict Harley-Davidson's August 2024 pledge to eliminate diversity initiatives. The company announced it would end diversity-based spending goals, halt socially motivated employee training, withdraw from the HRC Corporate Equality Index, and stop Pride festival sponsorships.
"We are saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community," the company stated at the time. It claimed it "had not operated a DEI function since April 2024" and did not have hiring quotas.
That rollback arrived less than a month after Starbuck launched his initial boycott in July 2024. He targeted Harley's LGBTQ+ boot camp, Pride event sponsorships, Wisconsin LGBT Chamber of Commerce membership, and racial equity training for its legal department. The Human Rights Campaign condemned Harley's 2024 decision as "an impulsive decision fueled by fringe right-wing actors and MAGA extremists who believe they can bully their way into dismantling initiatives that help everyone thrive in the workplace," according to HRC VP Eric Bloem.
Starbuck's renewed campaign strikes as Harley faces mounting financial pressure. The company's core motorcycle business saw operating income collapse to $19 million in Q1 2026 from $116 million in Q1 2025. Earnings per share fell to 22 cents from $1.07 year-over-year. Revenue from Harley-Davidson Motor Company dropped 2 percent to $1.1 billion, while consolidated revenue fell 12 percent. The company unveiled a "Back to the Bricks" strategic plan in May targeting $350 million in core motorcycle-business EBITDA by 2027.
"These new attacks are further evidence that firms that try to placate activists on the left or the right without having a clear vision for their brand are doomed to become perennial targets," said David Primo, a professor at the University of Rochester. "We saw it with Target from the left, and now we're seeing it with Harley-Davidson from the right."
Primo added that the controversy creates "a distraction the new CEO doesn't need."
Starbuck has successfully pressured several major companies to scale back or eliminate DEI programs, including John Deere, Tractor Supply, Walmart, Ford, Lowe's, McDonald's, Target, Boeing, and PepsiCo. The activist, who has more than 500,000 X followers and self-funds his operations, argues Harley's leadership "must think Harley riders are dumb" and will keep buying motorcycles regardless of the company's direction.
"We try to be fair to companies by giving them time to course correct after they commit to ending woke policies but Harley-Davidson's recent hires make it clear to me that they didn't learn their lesson," Starbuck told USA Today. "At some point, consumers have to leave a company behind when it continues making decisions that oppose their values. For Harley, that time is now. They don't deserve another chance."
The activist framed the conflict as a betrayal of Harley's core customer base. "So after an extremely tumultuous period where your brand was torn down and now is seen as weird, woke and weak, you're gonna bring in a CEO that is gonna, like, project the masculine identity of the brand right? The pro-America identity of the brand. Well, maybe not so much," he said in his video.
Starbuck's message to Harley riders emphasized their power in the marketplace. "I think what makes Harley special and what has made Harley a seminal American brand is the riders," he told the New York Post. "The truth is you are what made Harley strong and you will make whatever company you switch to strong as well."
Harley-Davidson did not respond to multiple requests for comment from USA Today, the New York Post, and other outlets. The company's silence leaves riders wondering whether the promise to shed woke corporate culture held any weight at all.