Harley-Davidson CEO compares himself to ‘Taliban’ in resurfaced speech as brand is accused of going woke
The Harley-Davidson motorcycle brand and business model are being “attacked” from within, social-media influencer Robby Starbuck suggested in a new post on X.
He cited the words of the company’s own CEO, Jochen Zeitz, who’s been accused of going woke as he oversees the iconic brand. The German-born Zeitz took over as CEO in May 2020.
“Imagine standing in front of CEOs of luxury brands that now think you are the ‘sustainable Taliban,’ as somebody once called me,” Zeitz said in a speech at the Zermatt Summit in Switzerland in 2020, referencing his time as board member of Kiering, parent company of Gucci, Puma and Stella McCartney.
A few minutes later in the same speech, Zeitz referenced the terror group again, as shown in the video that Starbuck shared this week.
“Of course, Harley’s all about the sound and the smell of the Harley-Davidson, isn’t it?” Zeitz said to attendees at the chic Swiss conference.
“So I became the Taliban again in a sustainable way,” Zeitz said in the video, as he’s shown smiling and walking back and forth on stage and referencing Harley-Davidson.
“I decided to share, to create a sustainability committee, which I’m still chairing today.”
Starbuck, along with his social media followers and many longtime Harley-Davidson riders, were shocked by the CEO’s glib comparison to a terror group that has American blood on its hands.
“I think it’s f—king disgusting,” motorcycling media mogul James “Hollywood” Macecari told Fox News Digital upon hearing the comparison.
The Taliban is the globally condemned terrorist group that rules Afghanistan. It offered a home base for Osama bin Laden and his Al-Qaeda terror network before and after it plotted its Sept. 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States.
The attacks killed nearly 3,000 people and injured more than 6,000 others, according to the US State Department. About 2,500 US service members were killed in the effort to root out the Taliban in the war that followed.
“Harley can crash and burn now for all I care,” Macecari, founder of Insane Throttle and author of four books, said last week in an interview about Harley-Davidson’s “woke” policies under Zeitz.
The Biden-Harris administration hastily abandoned Afghanistan in August 2021, leaving behind billions of dollars’ worth of American military hardware in the hands of the Taliban.
The administration also abandoned American military personnel.
Suicide bombers killed 183 people, including 13 US service members, on Aug. 26, 2021, during the US military’s mass evacuation at the Kabul airport.
This week, three years after that chaotic withdrawal, the Taliban paraded its US military equipment through the streets of Kabul in celebration of the moment, as Fox News Digital reported on Wednesday.
“The first thing that jumps to my mind when I hear ‘Taliban’ is all the aggressive, horrible things they’ve done,” said Starbuck, who has led a social-media effort to highlight Harley-Davidson’s drift into controversial far-left management practices.
He added, “The Taliban raped women. They’ve murdered people mercilessly. These are people who have killed Americans on purpose and with purpose. They fundamentally hate our country. So comparing yourself to them is, on the face, already insane.”
A Harley-Davidson spokesperson responded with a statement to Fox News Digital.
“Mr. Zeitz’s remarks make clear that he in no way accepts that characterization, as evidenced by his record of commitment to people, planet and profit and as underscored by his life’s work,” the company said.
‘Breaks my heart’
Zeitz’s leadership, some long-time Harley-Davidson riders claim, has coincided with a downfall of the brand’s image, once synonymous with American muscle, power and the freedom of its open roads.
“They killed Harley. It breaks my heart,” Vinny Terranova, owner of Pappy’s Vintage Cycles in Sturgis, South Dakota, told Fox News Digital in a recent interview about the CEO’s leadership.
The Sturgis Motorcycle Rally ended two days early for Harley-Davidson, said Terranova, who became a prominent figure in the biker business while running Rocky Mountain Harley-Davidson in Colorado for more than 40 years.
“They dropped their tents [on] Saturday and everything was gone. Everything,” he said.
“They were empty all week. Nobody showed up.”
The official end of the rally was on Monday.
Zeitz, in the same speech shared by Starbuck, cited his leadership of the so-called “B Team,” co-chaired with Richard Branson and other business and global leaders.
“We are trying to take on traditional capitalism and trying to redefine it,” said Zeitz.
Some long-time Harley-Davidson riders, who devoted their hearts and souls to the brand, believe the redefined Harley has become heartless.
“The biggest problem is not just the ‘woke’ buls—t” longtime Harley rider “Horseshoe” Johnny Henning told Fox News Digital by phone from Sturgis.
“The biggest problem is that they just lost their human touch. That’s the best way to put it.”
Starbuck, for his part, said this is evident in Zeitz’s comparison to the Taliban.
“When you dig deeper on the comparison, what it really means is that the Taliban is willing to do anything to achieve their goals,” the influencer said.
“Absolutely anything.
“The Taliban will do absolutely anything … to achieve their goals,” he emphasized.
