The Walt Disney Co. logo will appear on the screen above the floor of the New York Stock Exchange on August 8, 2017. Richard Drew/AP hidden caption
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Richard Drew/AP
Brendan Kerr, whom President Trump chose to chair the Federal Communications Commission, said he ordered an investigation into Walt Disney and its ABC TV network on concerns that he “promotes a mysterious form of dei discrimination.”
In a letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger, Kerr said the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau would consider whether Disney or ABC violates FCC Equal Employment Opportunity Regulations. He added that the probe will apply to both past and present policies.
“Many reports show Disney’s leadership has become a mysterious form of DEI discrimination a few years ago, apparently infecting many aspects of your company’s decisions,” Kerr wrote Thursday.
The survey comes after Disney has reduced its diversity efforts by dropping certain initiatives or softening the language around DEIs.
In the changes, Disney+ has shortened warnings about racist stereotypes in certain classic films such as Aladdin and the Jungle Book, removed the lengthy message written in 2020, and also expressed its commitment to an inclusive community.
Last month, Disney told employees it would evaluate executive compensation as a performance factor that replaces “diversity and inclusion” in its “talent strategy,” Axios reported.
In a letter Thursday, Kerr acknowledged Disney’s recent efforts, but said he wanted to make sure they weren’t just a surface level, adding that “all discriminatory initiatives” should be finished.
“Your company has recently made some changes to how you brand certain efforts, but it’s not clear that fundamentally changes to the underlying policy,” he said.
Kerr had problems with Disney’s Remagine tomorrow’s initiative. The initiative’s social media said it is a platform aimed at amplifying “stories and storytellers that inspire a more inclusive world.” According to the archive version of the Internet Archive, some of its social media accounts are still active, but the Reimagine Tomorrow website itself was deleted last month. Axios first reported deletion of the website.
Carr also cited a 2020 memo outlining the updated inclusion criteria for ABC. This requires at least 50% of the regular and repetitive characters to be drawn from “underrated groups.” The same was applied to actors and writing staff, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
In a statement, Disney said: “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission letter and look forward to being involved with the committee to answer that question.”
