A couple weeks ago Beege wrote about Harley-Davidson CEO Jochen Zeitz and his push to turn the company into one guided by DEI principles. After it was exposed by Robby Starbuck on X, the company sent out an email saying they were evaluating their policies. They didn't back off exactly but they seemed to be laying the groundwork for it.

I’ve just obtained a VERY interesting email that was sent by @harleydavidson to employees today about our stories exposing them for going woke.

Harley says they’ve begun an evaluation of "policies, strategies and activities to ensure they’re relevant to our business."

"The… pic.twitter.com/2jgkQcRhf6

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 8, 2024

Today, Harley announced it was dropping the woke initiatives in a statement posted on X:

We remain committed to listening to all members of our community as we continue on our journey together as one Harley-Davidson. United We Ride. pic.twitter.com/0feGYhTUMh

— Harley-Davidson (@harleydavidson) August 19, 2024

The news is being reported everywhere today, including by CBS:

In a message posted to X, Milwaukee-based Harley-Davidson said it currently has no "DEI function" and has not operated such a program since April 2024. The company added that it has no hiring quotas and no longer has "supplier diversity spend goals" designed to spread the company's spending out across businesses operated by people from diverse backgrounds. 

Additionally, Harley-Davidson said it will no longer participate in Human Rights Campaign (HRC) scoring, and will strike any "socially motivated content" from its employee training materials. 

"We are saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community," the company said in its announcement. Despite shelving some of its initiatives, Harley-Davidson said it believes "having both a broad employee and customer base is good for business and that ultimately everybody should experience the joy of riding a Harley-Davidson."

The decision to step away from the Human Rights Campaign clearly upset some people there. The group is lashing out and saying Harley doesn't care about workplace equality. 

The HRC's vice president for programs and corporate advocacy Eric Bloem told Newsweek that Harley Davidson's move to back out of HRC scoring sent a signal to employees that their employer "simply don't care about equality in the workplace."

Bloem said it was "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."

It sounds to me like HRC is worried about seeing other big companies ditch their scoring metric and is trying to prevent this from becoming a trend. But Robby Starbuck has been pretty successful campaigning against these companies. As he put it today, he is 5 for 3 in getting them to roll back their woke commitments. Both Polaris and Indian motorcycles got ahead of this once the backlash against Harley started.

Yesterday I hastily said that we’re 3 for 3 on changing corporate behavior. I was wrong. We’re actually 5 for 3. When we exposed Harley, both Indian Motorcycle and the Polaris brand removed DEI before @harleydavidson issued their reversal. I expect similar results going forward. pic.twitter.com/vGBxpbygij

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 20, 2024

The other companies that have rolled back their DEI efforts are Tractor Supply and John Deere. And Starbuck notes that even at CNN, readers support the change at Harley. Clearly there's a lot of mainstream opinion out there that does not favor corporate DEI.

This is amazing. Just read the comments on CNN’s article about Harley-Davidson dropping woke policies and 90% of the comments oppose DEI. The tide is turning against wokeness. 🔥 pic.twitter.com/ASWOabvCll

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) August 20, 2024

Here's the video that got the ball rolling on Harley Davidson.

It’s time to expose Harley Davidson.@harleydavidson has been one of the most beloved brands in America but recently on CEO Jochen Zeitz’s watch, they’ve gone totally woke.

Here’s some of what we found:

• Openly supports “the equality act" which would allow men into girl’s… pic.twitter.com/15kPUy8WVY

— Robby Starbuck (@robbystarbuck) July 23, 2024