Harley-Davidson has recently faced intense controversy from conservatives over its woke corporate agenda led by German CEO Jochen Zeitz. Critics claim that since Zeitz took over the famed American motorcycle brand in 2020, Harley-Davidson’s brand was damaged after the company pursued values misaligned with its customer base.
The backlash against the brand was palpable at this year’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally in South Dakota, where bikers voiced their frustration with Harley-Davidson. “They lost their human touch. That’s the best way to put it,” longtime Harley-Davidson enthusiast “Horseshoe” Johnny Hennings told Fox News at the end of the event last week. He added, “Harley was like a brotherhood. … Now it’s just a ghost.”
However, some claim that Zeitz has been an effective leader, spurring revenue growth at the company. “He’s a smart dude and since he’s taken over, Harley has made more money for its investors,” the general manager of a Texas Harley-Davidson dealership claimed.
Regardless, others maintain that Zeitz is a liberal globalist. “He’s just all about being a new world order globalist,” Vinny Terranova, the owner of Pappy’s Vintage Cycles in Sturgis, South Dakota, stated. “He brought in bean counters and minions from Europe and they don’t care where Harley came from or the history of it. There’s no more service, no more customer interaction.”
In the face of the intense controversy, The American Tribune recently reported on comments from Harley-Davidson addressing the backlash. The company appeared to backpedal from its woke initiatives, vowing to align itself with the interests of its customers.
The company said, “We are saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community. As a Company, we take this issue very seriously, and it is our responsibility to respond with clarity, action and facts. Earlier this year, we initiated an internal stakeholder review to better align Company activities to the needs of both our business and community.”
Harley-Davidson indicated that it hadn’t hosted any DEI events in several months and would abandon certain diversity spending goals. “We see it as every leader’s role to ensure we have an employee base that reflects our customers and the geographies in which we operate. It is critical to our business that we hire and retain the best talent and that all employees feel welcome. That said, we have not operated a DEl function since April 2024, and we do not have a DEl function today. We do not have hiring quotas and we no longer have supplier diversity spend goals,” the brand said.
Moreover, the motorcycle company claimed that training content will avoid “socially motivated” content. “The Company continually evaluates its training opportunities to ensure they are right for our workforce. Training provided will be related to the needs of the business and be absent of socially motivated content – only legally required training has ever been mandatory at Harley-Davidson,” the statement said.
Harley-Davidson’s statement concluded, “We believe 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. We remain committed to listening to all members of our community as we continue on our journey together as the most desirable motorcycle brand in the world.”
Watch a biker sound off on Harley-Davidson’s wokeness below:
Featured image credit: Steve Daniels / Harley-Davidson sign in Wootton, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harley-Davidson_sign_in_Wootton_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1372894.jpg
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