The Federal Communications Commission is investigating ABC and parent company Disney over its diversity, equity and inclusion actions, FCC Chair Brendan Carr announced Friday on social media.
In a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger, Carr wrote that he wants “to ensure that Disney and ABC have not been violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
“For decades, Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes,” the letter said. “But then something changed. Disney has now been embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies.”
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The probe is the latest escalation in the Trump administration’s crackdown on diversity programs in private American companies. The administration has already dismantled DEI efforts in the federal government, including banning DEI considerations when hiring, and companies — now including Disney — face significant pressure to change or abandon their policies on diversity.
Carr’s letter said DEI policies from a few years ago “infected many aspects of (Disney’s) decisions,” noting that the entertainment behemoth “embedded explicit race- and gender-based criteria across its operations.”
A Disney spokesperson said in a statement Friday: “We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions.”
More pressure to end DEI
The Trump administration is not backing down in its efforts to roll back diversity initiatives.
Carr, who was appointed by Trump, has said the FCC will block mergers and acquisitions from media companies that promote DEI policies.
“Any businesses that are looking for FCC approval, I would encourage them to get busy ending any sort of their invidious forms of DEI discrimination,” Carr said in an interview with Bloomberg last week.
Federal regulators typically block corporate mergers if they will harm competition or raise prices for customers. They have never tried to block mergers because of human resource policies, legal experts and advocacy groups say.
Legal experts said it’s not clear what exactly Carr meant by “invidious” DEI efforts or which DEI programs are unlawful. But the FCC chair’s message has enormous stakes for pending and future mergers and acquisitions in the communications sector. He specifically mentioned Paramount’s merger with Skydance, and Verizon’s acquisition of Frontier. The FCC has also ordered an investigation into Comcast’s DEI practices.
While some companies have pushed back on the anti-DEI movement, others are scrambling to avoid scrutiny from the Trump administration. Meta, Amazon, McDonald’s and Goldman Sachs are among the companies that have changed or rolled back their DEI policies in recent months. However, it is still unclear what constitutes as an “illegal DEI” program.