Maybe “go woke, go broke” is at least a little true.
Three weeks ago, commentator and X celebrity Robby Starbuck began pushing for a boycott of Tractor Supply Company (TSC), the hugely successful chain of stores where American farmers and ranchers buy many of their supplies and equipment. Other consumers shop there, too.
Reason for the boycott: Like many companies, Tractor Supply swerved to the radical left and began supporting homosexual propaganda and diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Result after Starbuck publicized it: The company’s market value tanked to the tune of $2.5 billion.
Yesterday, the company abandoned the radical project in a public statement.
The First X Post
The trouble began for Tractor Supply when Starbuck posted a long story on X describing the company’s cuddling up to homosexuals and espousing DEI ideology.
“It’s time to expose Tractor Supply,” Starbuck began. “It’s one of the most beloved brands in [the U.S.] by conservatives but what do they REALLY stand for under CEO @hallawton’s leadership?”
Starbuck’s list makes it look as if homosexuals and crackpots had completely taken over the company:
• LGBTQIA+ training for employees
• Funding pride/drag events
• They have a DEI Council
• Funding sex changes
• Climate change activism
• Pride month decorations in the office
• DEI hiring practices
• LGBTQIA+ events at work
And CEO Hal Lawton, Starbuck reported, “liked posts attacking unvaccinated people and @AllisonW_Sports when she left ESPN over the COVID vaccine. Let’s just say those likes make it appear he’s NOT fond of people who chose to skip the vaccine.”
Starbuck wrote that the company’s new priorities — its obsession with promoting sexual perversion and leftist propaganda, “don’t align with our state [Tennessee]” or the company’s customers.
Continued Starbuck:
We must make our voices heard. Hal Lawton needs to understand that we don’t want our hard earned money spent on these woke priorities. If he supports this stuff then he should spend some of his $11M salary or tens of millions in stock on it instead of using the money we spend at Tractor Supply.
Starbuck told followers to contact the company respectfully to complain and to buy goods normally purchased at Tractor Supply from other stores until the company changes its policy.
He also told Lawton to get out of his office in Brentwood, Tennessee, and ask his customers what they think of his new priority. “I think you’ll find very quickly that you’re on the wrong side of this issue,” he wrote.
And “one last thing,” he continued:
Why are you hiding your sponsorship of pride events on Tractor Supply’s website where you proudly display events/orgs that TSC gives $$ to? Don’t want customers to know that’s where their money’s going?
That was June 6. One June 28, he posted video in which Lawton said that leftist DEI policies are “embedded” in the company’s “culture.”
Surrender
Yesterday, the company surrendered after losing $2.5 billion in market capitalization this week.
On June 20, the company was worth $31.3 billion. Yesterday, it was $28.88 billion. On June 25, it had dipped to $25.86 billion, a $5.44 billion hit.
The company sent a note to employees and explained that it was dropping its crazed policies.
Noting it was “passionate about being good neighbors in our hometowns because without you, we would not be what we are,” the company said that it “is imperative to us that our customers’ hard-earned dollars are taking care of our Team Members and the communities we all love.”
It reminded customers of its historical support for veterans, emergency responders, animal shelters, state fairs, and other rural activities such as FFA and 4-H.
Thus, it continued, “we will”:
- No longer submit data to the Human Rights Campaign
- Refocus our Team Member Engagement Groups on mentoring, networking and supporting the business
- Further focus on rural America priorities including ag education, animal welfare, veteran causes and being a good neighbor and stop sponsoring nonbusiness activities like pride festivals and voting campaigns
- Eliminate DEI roles and retire our current DEI goals while still ensuring a respectful environment
- Withdraw our carbon emission goals and focus on our land and water conservation efforts
Homosexuals Furious
The Lavender Lobby is furious.
The homosexual Advocate said the company caved to “far-right homophobia and bigotry.”
Eric Bloem, vice president of programs and corporate advocacy at the Human Rights Campaign, a homosexual propaganda megaphone, was pink with rage.
“Tractor Supply Co is turning its back on their own neighbors with this shortsighted decision. LGBTQ+ people live in every zip code in this country, including rural communities,” he told the Advocate:
Companies from every industry work closely with us to be sure their employees and customers are respected, valued and can get the job done for their workforce and shareholders. Caving to far-right extremists is only going to hurt the same folks that these businesses rely on.”
Not really. But anyway, the headmistress of GLAAD — the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation — said homosexuals can’t feel safe down on the farm.
“LGBTQ people in rural areas should feel safe in their communities and the stores where they shop,” she said:
Tractor Supply’s embarrassing capitulation to the petty whims of anti-LGBTQ extremists puts the company out of touch with the vast majority of Americans who support their LGBTQ friends, family, and neighbors. No company should be proud of abandoning the American values of freedom, equality, and civic engagement.
Replied Starbuck on X: “I see you’re upset about Tractor Supply ending all DEI and donations to pride + drag shows for kids. Here’s my response: Get used to it.”
“This is the beginning, not the end,” he warned:
You call me an extremist but you know what I find extreme? Expecting every company on earth to force your political + social beliefs on the entire planet. That seems sort of extreme.
Doritos, Bud Light
Tractor Supply is the third major corporation to lose billions after it surrendered to left-wing and homosexual extremists.
When Bud Light hired “trans woman” Dylan Mulvaney to promote its product, what was once the leading beer brand in America lost $395 million in sales.
When Doritos Spain hired a “trans woman” pedophile as a spokesman, it quickly reconsidered and fired the deviant after outrage on social media ensued.
