Meet Robby Starbuck, the influencer targeting DEI programs at companies around the US
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- Robby Starbuck has led pressure campaigns against "woke policies" at huge companies.
- Walmart was the latest company to roll back some DEI initiatives after working with Starbuck.
- The director-turned-activist has amassed a large social-media following.
"Robby Starbuck gets Walmart to end woke policies," reads the thumbnail on one of the latest Instagram videos from conservative activist Robby Starbuck.
Starbuck was announcing the latest win in his often-successful pressure campaigns against diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives at major companies.
Starbuck said after he told Walmart, the US's largest private employer, that he was investigating them the company worked with him and agreed to end some of their DEI practices.
A Walmart spokesperson told Business Insider that while some of the changes had been in the works for a while, some of them were attributable to Starbuck.
The anti-DEI activist has amassed a following on social media — 360,000 on Instagram and 719,000 on X — where he blasts companies with "woke policies" such as requiring racial sensitivity training or sponsoring LGBTQ-focused youth camps.
Other companies he's targeted that have also pulled back on their DEI initiatives include Ford, John Deere, Tractor Supply Company, Molson Coors, Lowe's, and Harley-Davidson.
He's part of a new and highly influential conservative media landscape that emerged in the run-up to President-elect Donald Trump's decisive victory.
A recent Pew Research Center study found around 21% of American adults said they consume news on social media from so-called "news influencers." The study also found news influencers were slightly more likely to identify as Republican, conservative, or pro-Trump than as the left-leaning equivalents.
Media personalities like Starbuck are expected to play a larger role in news and election coverage, which have previously been dominated by legacy media organizations. Starbuck, for his part, intends to ramp up his efforts heading into the busy shopping season.
"No industry should feel safe," Starbuck told The Wall Street Journal earlier this month. "As we head into Christmas, I will likely turn my sights to retailers who depend on the majority of Americans who just elected Trump with the popular vote."
Starbuck has said in social media posts that he worked in Hollywood prior to his activism, directing music videos and other projects. But over time he said he grew increasingly disturbed by the industry and ended up moving with his wife and kids to Tennessee in 2018.
"They'll throw society and our kids under the bus to stay famous and keep the money flowing," Starbuck said in a post about his experiences in Hollywood. "The best thing we can do is recognize the game that's being played to destroy our culture and stop idolizing people who don't care about you."
Starbuck told the Journal he has always voted for Republicans but that he became more socially conservative over time. Starbuck frequently says in his videos that what he wants is "corporate neutrality" — for companies to avoid being political.
Elon Musk has reshared Starbuck's content to his millions of followers on X. So have the companies he's targeted and even ones he hasn't yet. The owner of a business in the DEI space wrote in Fast Company earlier this month that some of her clients had canceled contracts because their company leadership was worried about being targeted by Starbuck.
In addition to his social media content, Starbuck along with his wife, Landon Starbuck, produced a documentary released in February 2024 called "The War on Children."
Starbuck has said he will continue to pressure to companies to end their DEI policies.
In an interview with The Wall Street Journal's podcast in August, Starbuck said, "I've been described as a dog with a bone. I'm not going to let go of it. Even half measures are really not good enough for me, but I will be the greatest champion of a company that does the right thing, because I think that ultimately it's part of the path back to sanity for our country as a whole."
A representative for Starbuck did not provide comment to Business Insider by the time of publication.