The Walt Disney Co. is the latest media conglomerate to be targeted by Donald Trump‘s FCC chairman over its DEI practices.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr said today that he sent a letter to Walt Disney Co. CEO Bob Iger announcing that the agency had opened an investigation into whether Disney and ABC “have not been violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
“While I have seen reports that Disney recently walked back some of its DEI programs, significant concerns remain,” Carr said.
The FCC chair claims that the agency has authority as ABC is a regulated entity. He wrote that the Communications Act and commission rules prohibit regulated companies “from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age or gender.”
Last month, Disney revised its DEI efforts, with a focus on belonging. The company replaced a Diversity & Inclusion metric with a Talent Strategy factor in executive compensation planning. According to a company memo, the factor assesses “how leaders uphold our company values, incorporate different perspectives to drive business success, cultivate an environment where all employees can thrive, and sustain a robust pipeline to ensure long-term organizational strength.”
Carr’s letter has similarities to one he sent to Comcast last month. At the time, he indicated that he would launch investigations of other media companies as well.
A Disney spokesperson said, “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions.”
Anna Gomez, one of two Democrats on the FCC, said that Carr is overstepping his authority in his investigations over DEI practices.
In a speech this week to the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce, she said that “private businesses all over the country are under attack.” She urged companies “not to stay silent.”
“Government should have no business trying to roll back these efforts. It is not only detrimental to small businesses and companies that know exactly what their customers want, it is also dangerous. Many of you are the children of parents, grandparents or great-grandparents who escaped countries where aggressive government intervention in the private sector and government censorship led to disastrous consequences.”
In his letter, Carr does not mention specific Disney content, but he cited reports of the companies “launch what would amount to segregated affinity groups and spaces.” He also cited the company’s Reimagining Tomorrow initiative, claiming they were “a mechanism for advancing its DEI mission.” He also contended that ABC implemented mandatory “inclusion standards” that “may have forced racial and identity quotas into every level of production.”
Disney has eliminated its Reimagine Tomorrow hub, and it has evolved into a new inclusion framework on the company’s corporate impact website. Carr told Punchbowl News this week that he was planning a Disney investigation.
