Hollywood’s efforts to promote diversity on screen and behind it are under siege one month into the Trump administration, with Disney publicly scaling back its DEI efforts and Comcast facing an FCC investigation over its policies seeking to promote inclusion.
The moves have sent tremors through the entertainment industry, as executives and creatives wonder whether the hard-won gains in equality and more balanced representation will be lost, or worse — punished.
Hollywood has spent years if not decades listening to interest groups advocate for entertainment that more accurately reflects society. Now those same studios find themselves dealing with pressure to undo programs launched with those goals in mind. And for what it’s worth, those interest groups were silent this week when TheWrap reached out, with NAACP, GLAAD, the ACLU and Color of Change uncharacteristically declining comment.
How will the studios manifest this change? Will they shift storylines? Phase out gay characters in youth-oriented fare? Re-cast the plot lines of Pixar movies, which lean heavily on inclusion? Hide Halle Bailey as “The Little Mermaid” on Disney+?
In a chilling letter to Comcast chairman and CEO Brian Roberts on Tuesday, Federal Communications Commission chairman Brendan Carr said there’s “substantial evidence” that the media conglomerate and NBCUniversal are “promoting invidious forms” of DEI in a way that illegally discriminates. He cited language on the company’s website that DEI is a “core value” of its business and public reports that state it has an entire “DEI infrastructure” that includes annual DEI days, training for the company’s leaders and initiatives on the TV and programming side of the business.
“Promoting invidious forms of discrimination cannot be squared with any reasonable interpretation of federal law,” he wrote. “It can only deprive Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law. I expect that this investigation into Comcast and its NBCUniversal operations will aid the Commission’s broader efforts to root out invidious forms of DEI discrimination across all of the sectors the FCC regulates.”
Carr has demanded that Comcast provide an accounting of its DEI initiatives, preferences, mandates, policies, programs and activities — including those that are ongoing and may be operating under different labels — to the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau. Representatives for the FCC’s Media Enforcement Bureau did not immediately return TheWrap’s request for comment.
Comcast’s businesses currently regulated by the FCC include its broadband and mobile segments, as well as licenses for NBC’s 12 owned-and-operated TV stations. A company spokesperson told TheWrap Comcast will cooperate with the agency to answer its questions.
“For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers,” the spokesperson said.
Carr’s letter prompted a dissenting response from FCC commissioner Anna Gomez, a Democratic appointee who’s been a vocal critic of Carr’s actions against media companies in recent weeks. Gomez told TheWrap that “stoking partisan culture wars” is not the agency’s job.
“It is time we return to our core mission – closing the digital divide, fostering innovation and protecting consumers,” Gomez said.
Nevertheless, companies already appear to be taking preemptive action to avoid conflicts with the government. Earlier this week, Disney announced its rollback of DEI initiatives. The company is getting rid of its Reimagine Tomorrow campaign, shifting focus from “Diversity & Inclusion” to “Talent Strategy,” and even changing the way it warns Disney+ viewers of problematic material in older films and series. Instead of an on-screen warning that plays before the material, there’s a little bug in the corner only visible if you press “pause.”
The struggle for greater inclusivity has been something that creatives working underneath the corporate tier in Hollywood have been fighting for in recent years, making Disney’s steps to roll back DEI in response to the new administration a source of concern. One animation studio staffer who has seen corporate interference on projects like “Win or Lose,” the Pixar series that deleted a trans storyline last year, worried that the lack of DEI protections would make for more frequent and forceful pushback.
A Disney spokesperson said there wasn’t anything in the pipeline that was endangered.
Disney has historically exhibited a degree of skittishness regarding overt LGBTQ themes, backing away from releasing “Nimona,” which featured an LGBTQ+ love story. The movie was produced by Blue Sky Studios, which the studio acquired as part of its purchase of 21st Century assets.
The film was eventually made by Netflix, earning a Best Animated Feature Oscar nomination.
But Disney has long embraced inclusive themes and issues like self-acceptance and anti-bigotry, especially in its animated movies. The studio has regularly broken new ground in casting actors of color, such as Bailey in the live-action version of “The Little Mermaid.” Disney has also championed talent behind the camera like Shonda Rhimes of ABC’s “Grey’s Anatomy” fame, a leading power player in Hollywood and an outspoken woman of color. The studio has at times been targeted by conservatives over those efforts, accused by culture warriors of being too “woke.” In the case of Rhimes and “The Little Mermaid,” the choices were broadly celebrated and highly successful.
In March 2022, Disney also faced a backlash from its employees when then-CEO Bob Chapek initially shied away from a declarative statement in response to a Florida law that came to be known as the “Don’t Say Gay” bill, pushed for by GOP governor Ron DeSantis.
That same week, “LGBTQIA+ employees of Pixar and their allies” sent a letter to Walt Disney Company management saying Disney executives had forced the removal of “nearly every moment of overtly gay affection … regardless of when there is protest from both the creative teams and executive leadership at Pixar.”
In the past, Disney has taken steps to expunge content that might provoke blowback from conservatives to protect its returns in the global market. Pixar’s 2020 fantasy film “Onward,” released just days before movie theaters around the world were shut down due to the pandemic, featured an innocuous line from a female character about her “girlfriend.” The movie was subsequently banned in Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Saudi Arabia. A kiss between two female characters in Pixar’s “Lightyear” was also removed, then reinstated, causing the movie to be banned in several countries and given a more restrictive rating in others.
The push and pull between the creatives at studios like Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios and the parent company has continued, including questions about the sexual orientation of the teenage character in “Inside Out 2” and Disney pulling an episode of the Disney Channel animated series “Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur” that had centered on a trans character.
Those tensions could be exacerbated by the current environment, with the difference being that the studios’ balancing act puts it squarely between many of their employees and the U.S. government.
Could Comcast be liable for DEI?
According to Comcast’s latest available impact report, the company’s total workforce as of 2023 was 37.1% female and 46.3% people of color. Out of that total, women and people of color make up 37.8% and 23.1% of the executive leadership team, 44.5% and 32% of directors, 45.3% and 26.2% of vice presidents and above, and 43.7% and 38.4% of managers, respectively.
As for talent, women and people of color made up 37.9% and 43.3% of on-screen/on-air talent and 23.9% and 14.2% of those behind the camera on the film side; 55% and 52% for on-screen/on-air talent and 51.2% and 38.6% for those behind the camera at its news division; and 40% and 44.9% for on-screen/on-air talent and 40.1% and 31.5% for those behind the camera in NBC’s primetime scripted programming.
Comcast also has a board that is 60% diverse racially, ethnically and by gender and nine employee resource groups, spanning over 250 total chapters and more than 36,000 members. The company invested $463 million in total cash/donations to diverse communities in 2023, according to the report.
FCC chairman Brendan Carr with then-President-elect Donald Trump in November 2024. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
FCC chairman Brendan Carr with then-President-elect Donald Trump in November 2024. (Brandon Bell/Getty Images)
Disney’s workforce as of 2023 was 51.2% women and 46.1% people of color, with executives at 45.6% and 28.5%, respectively, and managers at 45% and 33%, according to its latest report. Half of its board as of 2023 were women or racially/ethnically diverse.
Disney also spent more than $145 million to support programs for Asian American and Pacific Islander, Black and African American, Hispanic and Latino, Native American and Indigenous, multicultural, women, veterans, people with disabilities and LGBTQIA+ communities, representing more than 60% of its charitable giving.
In a research note published Wednesday, New Street Research analyst and former FCC chief of staff Blair Levin said he’s “dubious” Carr’s investigation will turn up anything that would present “material legal liability” for Comcast, concluding that it’s “highly unlikely” the agency would revoke the company’s broadcast licenses.
Levin added that the FCC cannot penalize a party for doing something it had no warning was a violation and that Trump’s executive order doesn’t create a law that a private company must follow.
“Only a congressional action or the Constitution can do that,” Levin explained. “As Commissioner Simington and then Commissioner Carr have noted, the ability of the FCC to fine or otherwise penalize companies through the current enforcement framework may violate the current Supreme Court standards.”
Levin believes Carr may be hoping for a settlement from Comcast, which he warned could create “collateral damage” for the company and “potential liability” for other companies in the industry.
“We are not experts in employment law, but we would guess that any settlement with Carr carries the risk of disgruntled employees using the settlement to file a complaint against CMCSA alleging damages due to employment practices,” he said. “Any settlement would also create political incentives for Carr to go after other FCC-regulated companies for their DEI programs.”
Citing the potential fallout from that, he continued, “Settling with Carr carries the risk that some of the talent — producers, writers and actors — will not want to work with a company that is perceived as bending the knee to political pressure and take their projects to other companies — such as Netflix, Apple or Amazon — that are not subject to FCC jurisdiction.”
On Tuesday, mega-producer Rhimes resigned from the board of the Kennedy Center after Trump moved to install himself as its chairman.
Carr’s investigation also suggests Comcast could face significant political opposition from the Trump administration if it chooses to pursue M&A opportunities, such as a potential merger with Charter Communications.
However, Levin has previously noted that Comcast’s spinoff of its cable network portfolio should not warrant FCC scrutiny, since there’s no required transfer of broadcast licenses involved.
Carr’s interest in NBCUniversal comes after he reinstated previously-dismissed complaints against Philadelphia’s WPVI-TV, accusing ABC of showing favoritism towards Vice President Kamala Harris when the network hosted the September presidential debate; and New York’s WNBC-TV, contending the station violated the FCC’s equal-time rule when Harris appeared on “Saturday Night Live” during the weekend prior to the 2024 presidential election.
Carr’s predecessor Jessica Rosenworcel said in her dismissal of the WPVI-TV complaint that the First Amendment restricts the commission from interfering with the free press. NBC sought to comply with the equal-time rule by giving Trump airtime the next day during a NASCAR race and an NFL “Sunday Night Football” ga
