DEI: Last News

letter, Coors’ company executives said its human resources team began making plans in March to broaden the view of its DEI policies to ensure all employees “know they are welcome.” The beer giant said it would halt all DEI trainings, scuttle requiring suppliers to meet diversity goals, and tie executive compensation solely to business performance rather than “aspirational representation goals.”The company also said it would stop participating in the Human Rights Campaign’s “Corporate Equality Index,” an annual survey that ranks companies based on the existence of their LGBTQ-inclusive nondiscrimination policies, as well as employee benefit policies that recognize same-sex relationships, LGBTQ-headed families, or transgender identities as valid.Starbuck has primarily been targeting companies whose consumer base is perceived as socially conservative, including beer and spirit manufacturers, retail chains, automotive brands like Ford Motor Company, motorcycle giant Harley-Davidson, or agricultural-related companies like Tractor Supply Co. or John Deere.But his campaign appears to be aimed at eventually intimidating or forcing all major corporations — even those with liberal customer bases — into dropping DEI policies, which conservatives claim are a form of “reverse racism” that prioritize the hiring and advancement of people from various minority groups over allegedly more “qualified” heterosexual and cisgender white employees.

CNN, Ford Motor Company’s CEO Jim Farley announced to employees last Wednesday that the automotive giant had changed several of its policies.The company’s employee resource groups would stop focusing on identity and halt participation in external surveys, including the Human Rights Campaign’s “Corporate Equality Index,” which rates companies on their LGBTQ workplace nondiscrimination policies and employee benefits.“We are mindful that our employees and customers hold a wide range of beliefs, and the external and legal environment related to political and social issues continues to evolve,” Farley wrote in the email. He noted that the company does not “utilize hiring quotas or tie compensation to the achievement of specific diversity goals,” does not use “quotas [to] develop a dealer body that reflects the communities they serve,” has shifted the focus of employee resource groups to focus on networking, mentorship, professional development, and community service, and does not limit membership in any employee resource group to anyone based on individual characteristics.Farley insisted that Ford remains committed to creating an “inclusive workspace and building a team that leverages diverse perspectives, backgrounds, and thinking styles.”Right-wing activist Robby Starbuck posted a copy of Farley’s email on X, claiming that the company — like others — had changed its policies after he had informed them he was looking into their policies.Here is @Ford’s full statement I received this morning.

The Hollywood Reporter published.The lawsuit alleged that the company “callously disregarded” a PBS DEI program that mandated Schultz’ animated series “Weather Hunters” include Black writers. Schultz accused Al Roker Entertainment of trying to undermine and avoid the mandate by having Black writers only touch up scripts that White writers wrote rather than hire Black staff writers.“Instead of giving the chances to BIPOC writers as had been the plan, the story editor, repeating a strategy previously advocated and backed by Al Roker Entertainment management in writing, wanted to have ‘non-BIPOC’ writers write the stories, and then bring on a ‘BIPOC’ writer and after the stories/episodes [were] shaped, they could be ‘hand[ed] off to BIPOC writers,'” the lawsuit read.After a Black producer was reprimanded for opposing this idea, Schultz spoke out in defense of the DEI policy and made his opinion known to Roker and other executives, according to the suit.

The good news: the demographic diversity of the Television Academy’s membership has increased and women with historically marginalized racial/ethnic identities reported a 10% increase in “belonging.”

All DEI (diversity, equity and inclusion) programs at the Central Florida Tourism Oversight District that includes Walt Disney World have been abolished, District Administrator Glenton Gilzean announced today. The board of the area of Orlando formerly called the Reedy Creek Improvement District said the move will end “hiring and contracting programs that discriminated against Americans based on gender and race, costing taxpayers millions of dollars.”

EXCLUSIVE: Lisa Collins is Warner Bros. Discovery’s new Group Vice President, overseeing Diversity, Equity and Inclusion employee initiatives across North America. She will report to Chief DEI Officer Asif Sadiq.

BreAnna Bell Karen Horne has exited her post as Senior V.P. of North America Diversity Equity and Inclusion for Warner Bros. Discovery as part of the company’s restructuring. A WBD memo from Chief Global DEI Officer Asif Sadiq to staffers, which Variety has obtained, revealed the news on Friday. Horne oversaw the DEI efforts for creative talent development pipeline programs, workforce, content and production while working closely with Sadiq to craft a global strategy for the company. She joined the company in March of 2020, and was responsible for creating and implementing multiple pipeline programs that aim to amplify the voices of underrepresented communities. Prior to her appointment, Horne was at NBC Entertainment and Universal Television Studios as Senior Vice President, Programming Talent Development and Inclusion where she was responsible for overseeing in-front-of and behind-the-camera primetime diversity efforts for NBC and Universal Television. While there, she started the Late-Night Writers Workshop in 2013.

Karen Horne, who led led Warner Bros. Discovery Diversity, Equity & Inclusion for North America, is leaving the company amid a raft of layoffs and major restructuring since the merger. Executive said Horne’s departure was not part of the broader staff retrenchment but a rethinking of the DEI division.

Michael Schneider Variety Editor at Large Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to end its long-running writers and directors training program, which the conglom announced Tuesday as part of a series of layoffs and budget cuts at Warner Bros. TV Group, drew a strong rebuke from different parts of the industry, including a stinging statement on Wednesday by the Directors Guild of America. But what Warner Bros. Discovery hadn’t followed up to explain — and quickly revealed on Wednesday — is that its Writers Workshop and Directors Workshop will live on (albeit it, in a somewhat different form, details TBD) but now move from Warner Bros. Television and be housed inside the conglom’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion unit.

President Biden’s secretary of the Army responded to the criticism that the military branch was becoming "woke," saying the branch’s diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs are "important." Army Secretary Christine Wormuth spoke at a Monday discussion with other military leaders on national security and the branch’s modernization efforts. While speaking at the event, Wormuth responded to the criticisms that the Army is going "woke" by saying the DEI programs being forced on soldiers are "important." Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth responded to criticism of the Army going "woke" by saying she is "not sure what ‘woke’ means." ((AP Photo/Jacquelyn Martin)) "We get criticized, frankly, sometimes for being ‘woke,'" Wormuth said.

A new report from the Television Academy was released on Friday which shines a light on its members’ experiences with diversity, equity, and inclusion practices across the industry. The Industry Data Report, created in partnership with ReadySet, expands on the Academy’s findings that were released in 2021.

AMC Networks has elevated its first head of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, Aisha Thomas-Petit, to the role of Chief People and Diversity Officer. She succeeds Jennifer Caserta, the longtime IFC executive who segued to AMC’s HR chief in 2018 and is departing after 20 years at the company.

Ethnic diversity at ViacomCBS’ U.S. operations nosed up to 37.7% from 36.2% over the past year and, at the VP level or higher, moved to 27.7% from 24.9%, according to the company’s second DEI (Diversity, Equity & Inclusion) report since Viacom and CBS merged in late 2019.