UFC’s Sean Strickland threatens to sell his Harley-Davidson amid boycott over ‘woke’ initiatives
UFC fighter Sean Strickland has said he’s selling his Harley-Davidson over its ‘woke’ initiatives. (Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC/Miguel Medina/AFP/Getty Images)
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) star Sean Strickland has said he will be selling his Harley-Davidson, as a right-wing-led boycott over the company’s “woke” initiatives continues.
The motorbike company has been a partner of the UFC since 2007.
On 22 July, music-video director Robby Starbuck accused the brand of promoting diversity, equity and inclusion efforts – a programme that most companies abide by.
Strickland has now weighed in, claiming that he will sell his beloved bike, and in a video posted to his X/Twitter account he explained why.
Strickland begins by saying he loves Harley and has ridden them most of his life, but added: “If you love America you won’t want a Harley,” claiming that the chief executive, Jochen Zeitz, was a “woke zealot” who wrote “the book on wokeism” and wanted to change who people are.
He goes on to brand Zeitz an “industry plant” put in place to “ruin, control and manipulate Harley”.
The video ends with Strickland saying: “I’m getting rid of this Harley as soon as possible.”
On Tuesday (30 July), Strickland posted an image of him on his bike with a crying face emoji and responded to several Harley-Davidson tweets.
Reposting a video of a performance by rapper Machine Gun Kelly, he wrote: “You promote MGK… the guy who dresses his boys like girls and does blood rituals… time to sell that Harley stock while it’s up.”
In a repost of the same video, he wrote: “Harley, there is still time. I don’t want to sell my bike… [your] CEO is a German climate activist who has created a woke agenda. Turn back… we will forgive you.”
In January, the UFC fighter was at the centre of controversy himself after he launched into an anti-LGBTQ+ rant after being asked to address a homophobic comment he had made in 2021.
Strickland had previously suggested that if he had a gay son, he would believe he had “failed as a man.” He responded to the question from Alexander Lee by calling the Canadian journalist a “weak f***ing man” and went on an unrelated tangent about Canada’s prime minister Justin Trudeau, who is a supporter of LGBTQ+ rights.
His comments were defended by UFC chief executive and president Dana White who said Strickland has a right to free speech.
