Lululemon Athletica founder Chip Wilson turned heads this week when he spoke out about “the whole diversity and inclusion thing” in an interview with Forbes.

Wilson, who is no longer with the company, expressed distaste for the diverse group of people featured in the company’s ads, who he described as “sickly” and “unhealthy,” saying they were “not inspirational.”

“I think the definition of a brand is that you’re not everything to everybody,” he said. “You’ve got to be clear that you don’t want certain customers coming in.”

Lululemon, in a statement, said Wilson did not speak for the company and “his comments do not reflect our company views or beliefs.”

Amid a brewing culture war over environmental, social, and governance (ESG) investing, DEI has become an increasingly controversial topic among entrepreneurs and CEOs.

After yet another post on X, formerly known as Twitter, by Elon Musk disparaging diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, entrepreneur Mark Cuban rose to defend DEI, heightening the increasing debate over the corporate initiatives.

Musk, on Wednesday, reposted a thread from hedge fund billionaire Bill Ackman, a frequent critic of DEI programs, adding his own comment: “DEI is just another word for racism. Shame on anyone who uses it.” He later added, “Discrimination on the basis of race, which DEI does, is literally the definition of racism,” in a follow-up Tweet.

That caught Cuban’s eye, who replied with a show of support for the programs, saying taking people’s race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and more into account helps businesses “find people who are more qualified.”

“The loss of DEI-Phobic companies is my gain,” he wrote. “We live in a country with very diverse demographics. In this era where trust of businesses can be hard to come by, people tend to connect more easily to people who are like them. Having a workforce that is diverse and representative of your stakeholders is good for business.”

Cuban called equity a core principle of business, adding that successful managers recognize the differences among workers and play to their strengths. And inclusion, he said, reduces workplace stresses and increases productivity. (A study by Paradigm research found that 72% of employees want their employers to invest in creating inclusive workplaces.)

Ackman has been a regular opponent to DEI programs, and following his campaign against Harvard University president Claudia Gay, he took aim at the school’s “political advocacy movement” and DEI “ideology” in a 4,000-plus-word tweet.

Even some states are weighing in, with Oklahoma’s governor directing state agencies and universities to phase out DEI programs and Texas’s governor legally dismantling DEI programs at colleges and universities.

Musk has been part of the amen chorus of this movement, tweeting in December, “DEI must DIE,” which quickly brought out critics.

Cuban, in his response to Musk’s most recent comments, likened DEI to a company’s healthcare benefits, saying it’s something many CEOs just see as a box to check. But by not paying attention to it, employees will not be comfortable, he said, and that can create resentment.

“DEI is not seen as a core competency in most companies,” Cuban wrote. “It’s just a huge expense. Intellectually, [CEOs] see the benefit of DEI. But they don’t have time to focus on it, [s]o it turns into a check box that they hope they don’t have to deal with. . . . When companies do DEI well, you see a well run, successful company.”

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