Lowe’s Rolls Back DEI Initiatives Amid MAGA Backlash, Fake Viral Quote

The home improvement retail chain Lowe’s is rolling back its diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives following online backlash from conservatives led by influencer Robby Starbuck.

Starbuck—a former music video director turned conservative online activist from Nashville, Tennessee—claimed responsibility for the company’s change of direction, writing on X, formerly Twitter, on Monday that the decision was a direct response to his plan to target Lowe’s “woke” policies.

“I messaged Lowe’s executives last week to let them know that I planned to expose their woke policies,” Starbuck wrote. “This morning I woke up to an email where they preemptively made big changes.”

According to the changes described by Starbuck and confirmed by Lowe’s to Bloomberg, the retail chain is ending its participation in surveys conducted by the LGBTQ advocacy group Human Rights Campaign and plans to stop sponsoring community events that are not focused on safe and affordable housing, disaster relief and skilled trades education.

“We’re now forcing multi-billion dollar organizations to change their policies without even posting just from fear they have of being the next company that we expose,” Starbuck wrote on X. “We are winning and one by one we WILL bring sanity back to corporate America.”

In an internal note viewed by Bloomberg, Lowe’s did not say the decision to cut its DEI programs was related to Starbuck’s planned campaign against the company. A spokesperson for the company said Lowe’s had begun making changes before being contacted by Starbuck.

Newsweek contacted Starbuck and Lowe’s for comment by email outside normal working hours.

Starbuck previously targeted companies such as Tractor Supply, John Deere and Harley-Davidson for what he called their “woke” policies, sparking backlashes against them led by his supporters.

While criticizing Lowe’s on social media, conservative users shared a fake quote by Marvin Ellison, the retail chain’s CEO, that said, “If conservatives do not like our values, they should take their money to Home Depot.”

Ellison did not make the comment, though a graphic circulated on social media suggested the CEO made the statement to CNBC.

X user @DocNetyoutube, a self-described MAGA supporter who had shared the fake quote on the social media platform, wrote that it was “a meme.”

“The actual quote that CEO of Lowes did say however was about supporting DEI and their competitors do not. So, someone made a meme which in essence is correct, but not the exact quote. Just to set the record straight,” the user wrote.

Conservative backlashes against “woke” companies can have damaging consequences for the businesses involved, as seen in Bud Light’s case. The company’s sales plummeted after it collaborated with trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney in 2023, which sparked anger among its conservative customers.

In what conservatives call “Go woke, go broke,” companies are punished for introducing initiatives deemed too far from conservative values, receiving boycotts so financially hurtful that they often backtrack on their decisions. After losing 30 percent of its customer base last year, Bud Light apologized for becoming part of a discussion “that divides people.”

Lowe’s is not alone in its decision to scale back its diversity programs. On August 19, after receiving pressure from Starbuck, Harley-Davidson wrote on X that it had not operated a DEI function since April, did not have hiring quotas and no longer had supplier diversity spending goals. The company added that training for its staff members would “be absent of socially motivated content.”

“We are saddened by the negativity on social media over the last few weeks, designed to divide the Harley-Davidson community,” the company wrote in a letter shared on X. “As a Company, we take this issue very seriously, and it is our responsibility to respond with clarity, action and facts.”

MAGA influencers and supporters celebrated the Milwaukee-based motorcycle manufacturer’s decision as a victory.

After being targeted by Starbuck’s anti-DEI crusades, Tractor Supply announced in June that it was going to eliminate DEI roles, drop out of the Human Rights Campaign’s ranking and shift funding away from DEI groups. Last month, John Deere said it would no longer participate in “cultural awareness parades” and would withdraw funds from DEI causes.