The Federal Communications Commission opened an investigation into Disney and ABC this week over its diversity, equity, and inclusion programs, which FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr described as “invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
Last month, Disney tweaked some of its DEI initiatives in an effort to focus more on business outcomes and company values again. The cultural shift came weeks after President Donald Trump pledged to eliminate the DEI ideology from the public and private sectors, returning to merit-based policies.
Carr noted while he has seen the reports indicating Disney retreated from DEI, “significant concerns remain.”
The purpose of the probe is twofold: to ensure that Disney’s discriminatory programs ended “in substance, not just name,” the commissioner said, and to determine whether Disney’s actions complied with FCC regulations.
“As you know, Disney started out a century ago as an iconic American company,” Carr wrote to Disney CEO Bob Iger in a letter dated Thursday. “For decades, Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes. But then something changed. Disney has now been embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies.”
“Numerous reports indicate that Disney’s leadership went all in on invidious forms of DEI discrimination a few years ago and apparently did so in a manner that infected many aspects of your company’s decisions,” he continued.
In a February memo, Disney announced it was ending its “Reimagine Tomorrow” initiative, which the company launched in 2021 to amplify underrepresented voices. The program sought to increase diversity and representation by making half of Disney’s regular and recurring characters come from “underrepresented groups,” according to its website that redirects to a new “Inclusion” page. As a result, mandatory racial and identity quotas were formed.
Reimagine Tomorrow sparked backlash in 2022 after video footage of an internal Zoom call leaked on social media, showing one Disney executive producer touting her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda.” It also sparked litigation filed by America First Legal, which accused Disney of “violating Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 by engaging in illegal race, sex, and national origin discrimination.”
Carr referred to the Reimagine Tomorrow program by name in the letter to Iger, citing a 2021 City Journal article written by conservative journalist Christopher Rufo who described Disney as “the wokest place on Earth.”
Disney also updated the content disclaimers that played before certain movies and television series on the Disney+ streaming service and moved them to the details section of those titles, Axios reported. The advisories previously warned viewers about older films, such as Dumbo and Peter Pan, that may include “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of peoples or cultures.” This change was not included in the official memo.
“Although your company recently made some changes to how it brands certain efforts,” Carr wrote, “it is not clear that the underlying policies have changed in a fundamental manner—nor that past practices complied with relevant FCC regulations.”
A Disney spokesperson said the company is reviewing the letter and looking forward to answering the commission’s questions. Disney also spoke on behalf of ABC, which is owned by the media and entertainment conglomerate.
Beyond ABC, the FCC is investigating other media outlets such as CBS, NBC News, NPR, and PBS. The latter two are facing scrutiny from Congress and the Trump administration, which are looking to defund the taxpayer-funded networks.
Appointed by Trump, Carr is targeting numerous companies engaging in DEI and even threatened to block mergers and acquisitions involving those companies.
Paramount Global is expected to merge with Skydance Media this year, as long as the FCC doesn’t intervene. Earlier this month, Paramount moved to dismiss Trump’s lawsuit against CBS over the heavily edited pre-election 60 Minutes interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. Paramount hopes to settle the high-stakes lawsuit with Trump in the hopes of preventing Carr from halting the corporation’s proposed merger, but a settlement has yet to materialize.