Career
Starbuck directed music videos and commercials in California before moving to Williamson County, Tennessee in 2019. [3] He then began investing in real estate and the stock market. [3]
Starbuck said he received pushback in Hollywood for identifying as Republican in 2015 and subsequently posting about his beliefs on social media. [3] During the COVID-19 pandemic, he campaigned against mask and vaccine mandates. [4] [5] In 2021, Starbuck declared his candidacy for the Republican nomination to represent Tennessee's 5th congressional district. [6] The State Republican party removed him from the 2022 primary ballot, a decision ultimately upheld by the Tennessee Supreme Court. [6] Starbuck instead ran as a write-in candidate, but did not win the nomination. [3]
In June 2023, a photo agency issued a legal warning to Starbuck after he used a copyrighted paparazzi photo of Megan Fox and her family in a social media post which accused the actress of "child abuse" for allegedly forcing her children to wear girls' clothes. [7] Fox responded to Starbuck's post by saying "Exploiting my child's gender identity to gain attention in your political campaign has put you on the wrong side of the universe." [7]
Anti-DEI activism
In June 2024, Starbuck began campaigning on social media against companies unpopular with conservatives because of their DEI initiatives, support for LGBTQ+ events, climate change strategies, and related corporate policies. [4] Starbuck focused on brands that implemented these programs in recent years and which he saw as less likely to resist pressure. [4] His employees helped him research the companies' policies and their executives' backgrounds. [4] He targeted one company at a time, posting dozens of times over the course of weeks urging his followers to protest with their voices and wallets. [2] Tractor Supply was the first company to roll back their initiatives within that same month. [2] [4] John Deere announced that it would no longer sponsor "social or cultural awareness" events and would audit all its training materials in July. [2] [4] In August, Harley-Davidson, Brown-Forman, Lowe's, and Ford Motor Company rolled back several of their DEI initiatives and ended their respective relationships with Human Rights Campaign. [2] [4] [8] In September 2024, Molson Coors [9] and Caterpillar Inc. [10] did the same. In October 2024, Toyota followed suit. [11] In November 2024, Boeing Co. and Walmart rolled back their DEI initiatives after being targeted by Starbuck. [12] [13] The New York Times commented that "Robby Starbuck may have scored his biggest win" to date with his successful pressure campaign against Walmart. [14] In December 2024, Nissan scaled back its DEI policies following a pressure campaign by Starbuck. [1] [15] In January 2025, McDonald's rolled back some of its DEI policies after being targeted by Starbuck. [16]
A CNN review showed that most of the companies that altered their policies against Starbuck's pressure were making "performative tweaks". [17] Ford retained several of its DEI policies while the changes at John Deere were not as sweeping as Starbuck stated. [17] Walmart continued to focus on expanding opportunities for underrepresented suppliers. [17]
The War on Children
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Starbuck's documentary The War on Children, which streamed on X (formerly Twitter) in February 2024, [18] opposes gender-affirming care. [5] The documentary contains interviews with Riley Gaines, Chaya Raichik of Libs of TikTok, and US Senator Rand Paul, among others. [18] The film's website tagline states that it "exposes the WAR that's being waged on children today through gender ideology, ESG, CRT, sexualization of entertainment, sex trafficking, online exploitation, TikTok, Big Pharma and more". [19] The film promotes the conspiracy theory that toxic chemicals are responsible for causing children to identify as LGBTQ+. [20] News outlets have described the film as "anti-trans" [21] and "anti-LGBTQ+". [22]
Elon Musk recommended the film. [23] Musk also previously promoted the trailer, which then received over 30 million views. [5] A group planned to screen the film at a movie theater in Vernon, British Columbia, but another local group lobbied the theater to cancel the screening due to concerns about the film harming marginalized people and potentially violating the Human Rights Code of British Columbia. [24] [25] In Ottawa County, Michigan, a commissioner promoted the film during a public meeting, [26] which may have been against county policy. [27]
