Jeff Green | Bloomberg News (TNS)
Robby Starbuck is a long way from Hollywood and, as he tells it, the liberals who canceled him for “coming out” MAGA.
But not even Starbuck — conservative activist or conspiracy theorist, depending on who’s talking — might’ve imagined he’d end up here in Tennessee, with two shaggy mini Scottish Highland cows, TeddyBear and HoneyBear.
Back when “The Apprentice” was creating the TV version of Donald Trump, Starbuck was making a name for himself directing music videos for Snoop Dogg and Megadeth. Nowadays, the ponytailed 35-year-old spends his time tending to his cows, two Great Danes, a pair of rabbits and a coop-full of chickens on his gentleman’s farm south of Nashville, 2,000 miles away from LA.
And also plotting to stamp out “woke-ism” from corporate America.
As a polarized nation dashes toward Election Day, Starbuck is having a moment. A year ago, you would’ve been hard-pressed to find a CEO who’d heard of him. Now the boyish West Coast transplant has emerged as a key figure in the right-wing fight to roll back diversity initiatives, particularly those regarding the LGBTQ community.
Robby Starbuck is seen on set of “Candace” on March 31, 2021, in Nashville, Tennessee. (Jason Kempin/Getty Images/TNS)
From his farm in Franklin, in the gentle hills of Middle Tennessee, the Cuban-American Starbuck is notching wins against household names like Ford Motor Co. and Harley-Davidson Inc. Suddenly he seems to be everywhere: CNN, Fortune, the Financial Times, The Wall Street Journal. But his public persona still lives mostly on X, where he posts videos “exposing” company DEI programs, and flits from one MAGA allegation to another on topics (cat-eating migrants, stolen elections) that would be familiar to regular viewers of Fox News or Tucker Carlson.
Then there’s the conspiracy-fueled documentary, “The War on Children,” that he worked on with his wife. Criticized as anti-trans propaganda, it’s gotten a thumbs up from Elon Musk, Donald Trump’s richest fan. Musk recommended the movie to his nearly 200 million followers on X and tweeted out all 2 hours and 21 minutes of it. (Starbuck said that Amazon banned the film, which, among other things, accuses liberals of grooming children for gender transition; Amazon didn’t immediately comment.)
Starbuck isn’t about to back off, particularly with a coin-toss election – and prospect of a Trump restoration – now less than 45 days away.
“I think even my biggest detractors would say we are winning,” Starbuck says in an interview at his farm. “Honestly, I don’t know of anything that even scratches the surface of what we’ve done in just a couple months.”
Tractors and Whiskey
His dark hair is slicked back into a tight, glossy coif. His outfit — navy button-up, fitted jeans, walking-heeled boots – throws off an urban cowboy vibe. His target of companies so far – makers of pickups, farm supplies, tractors, whiskey and beer – read like the lyrics to the country music he enjoys.
Starbuck begins each anti-DEI campaign, and announces each victory, with a video from his studio with documents and videos displayed on a screen behind him. Most of the videos exceed a million views. He peppers the companies on X with …read more
Source:: The Mercury News – Entertainment
