The Federal Communications Commission, whose chief said on Friday, the latest such regulatory probe into a major media company since President Donald Trump returned to the White House, intends to investigate the diversity, equity and inclusion practices at Walt Disney Co. and its ABC network.
Following Disney’s (DIS) announcement last month that it had reduced some of its DEI initiatives, a letter from FCC Chairman Brendan Carr, dated Thursday and sent to Disney Chief Executive Bob Iger, warned that “significant concerns” persisted. .
Carr expressed in an X post his “concern that their DEI practices may violate FCC prohibitions on invidious forms of discrimination”. His letter focused on executive bonuses as well as policies meant to make casting and production for shows more varied.
More specifics would be forthcoming, Carr’s letter to Disney informed the agency’s enforcement division would be “engaging with your company to obtain an accounting of Disney and ABC’s DEI programs, policies, and practices.”
“Although your company recently made some changes to how it brands certain efforts, it is not clear if the underlying policies have changed fundamentally – nor that past practices complied with relevant FCC regulations,” the letter added.
A Disney spokesman contacted MarketWatch saying, “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging the commission to answer its questions.”
Shares of the company concluded Friday’s trading session down 2.4%.
The FCC last month said it intended to look at Comcast Corp. (CMCSA) and its NBCUniversal affiliate over DEI initiatives. The Trump government contends that these kinds of diversity objectives, embraced more broadly following George Floyd’s death in 2020, constitute discrimination.
More generally, the Trump administration has sought to eradicate DEI from the corporate sector and government. Following lobbying and legal challenges from conservatives as well as the Supreme Court’s 2023 decision mostly banning affirmative action in college admissions, more businesses over the past year have pulled back from their DEI activities.
