President Donald Trump's FCC commissioner said Friday he's opening an investigation into the Walt Disney Co. and its ABC television network to see whether they are “promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
FCC Commissioner Brendan Carr announced the probe in a letter to Disney CEO Robert Iger on Friday. The company said it was reviewing the letter and looking forward to answering the commission's questions.
The new administration has taken an aggressive posture toward the media on several fronts. Just this week, there were court hearings on the shutdown of Voice of America and the president's dispute with The Associated Press over how the news agency refers to the Gulf of Mexico, which Trump has ordered renamed the Gulf of America.
Carr has pushed the Federal Communications Commission into an activist role since Trump appointed him as its leader. For example, the FCC currently has open investigations into ABC, CBS and NBC News.
“For decades, Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes,” Carr wrote to Iger. “But then something changed. Disney has now become embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies.”
He said that while he has seen reports that Disney has rolled back some of its practices, “significant concerns remain.”
Last month, Axios reported that Disney had made some policy changes, including eliminating a website designed to highlight personalities and stories from underrepresented communities.
Disney also softened messages that appeared before showings of movies like “Dumbo” and “Peter Pan,” Axios said. Instead of warnings that the films include “negative depictions and/or mistreatment of peoples or culture,” the messages changed to “this program is presented as originally created and may contain stereotypes or negative depictions.”
Carr's letter linked to an article by conservative activist Christopher Rufo describing Disney as “the wokest place on Earth.”
Some examples Carr cited go back several years, such as a one-time policy at Disney-owned ABC that at least 50 percent of characters in TV pilots be from underrepresented groups. The letter cites a statement by a Disney executive in 2021 that it rejected some TV pilots because they didn't satisfy inclusion standards.
Trump has targeted all manner of DEI — standing for diversity, equity and inclusion — efforts across both public and private organizations.
“At my direction, the FCC has already taken action to end its own promotion of DEI,” Carr wrote. “I have been pleased to see that some regulated companies are already taking steps toward rooting out discriminatory DEI policies.”
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David Bauder writes about the intersection of media and entertainment for the AP. Follow him at http://x.com/dbauder and https://bsky.app/profile/dbauder.bsky.social
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