FCC chairman opens investigation into DEI at Disney, ABC in letter: 'I am concerned'
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr announced a new investigation into "DEI practices" at Disney and its flagship company ABC via X Friday.
"I have asked the @FCC's Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation into Disney & ABC," Carr wrote. "While Disney started as an iconic American company, it recently went all in on DEI.
"I am concerned that their DEI practices may violate FCC prohibitions on invidious forms of discrimination."
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In his letter addressed to Disney CEO Robert Iger, Carr explains he wants "to ensure that Disney and ABC have not been violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations."
According to Carr, the Communications Act and FCC "prohibit regulated entities like Disney's ABC from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, age, or gender."
Carr also cited several news reports from recent years in the reasoning for an FCC investigation, including one employee account to "amount to racially segregated affinity groups and spaces."
"[Disney] also publicly launched a ‘Reimagine Tomorrow’ initiative, it would appear, as a mechanism for advancing its DEI mission," Carr wrote. "It also implemented mandatory ‘Inclusion Standards’ across ABC, requiring, for example, that ‘50 percent of regular and recurring characters' be drawn from ’underrepresented groups.
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"These standards may have forced racial and identity quotas into every level of production — demanding that ‘50% or more’ of writers, directors, crew, and vendors be selected based on group identity," Carr wrote.
Only 1% of Disney shareholders voted against the Human Rights Campaign corporate equality index last week, according to a preliminary tally.
The HRC's corporate equality index is described as a "national benchmarking tool on corporate polices, practices, and benefits pertinent to lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer employees." Disney earned a top score of 100 this year.
"Chairman Carr has been consistent and clear from day one. He expects all regulated businesses to end any invidious forms of DEI discrimination," an FCC spokesperson shared with FOX Business.
The Trump administration has made headlines in its first 100 days for its anti-DEI policies and executive orders for departments and institutions nationwide.
On Thursday, Trump signed an executive order declaring a similar policy at the Smithsonian Institution.
A Disney spokesperson responded to FOX Business' inquiry by stating, "We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions."
ABC did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.