FCC opening probe into diversity practices at Disney and ABC

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By David Shepardson and Dawn Chmielewski

WASHINGTON/LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -The head of the Federal Communications Commission on Friday said he is opening an investigation into the diversity practices of Walt Disney and its ABC unit, saying they may violate U.S. equal employment opportunity regulations.

FCC Chair Brendan Carr wrote Disney CEO Robert Iger in a letter dated Thursday that the company’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts may not have complied with FCC regulations and that changes by the company may not go far enough. “I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name,” Carr wrote in the letter, which was seen by Reuters.

He has sent letters to Comcast and Verizon announcing similar probes into diversity practices.

“We are reviewing the Federal Communications Commission’s letter, and we look forward to engaging with the commission to answer its questions,” a Disney spokesperson said.

Disney recently revised its executive compensation policies to remove diversity and inclusion as a performance metric, adding a new standard called “talent strategy,” aimed at upholding the company’s values.

Carr said FCC’s Enforcement Bureau will be engaging with Disney “to obtain an accounting of Disney and ABC’s DEI programs, policies, and practices.”

Carr, who was designed chair by President Donald Trump on Jan. 20, has been aggressively investigating media companies.

In December, ABC News agreed to give $15 million to Trump’s future presidential library to settle a lawsuit over comments that anchor George Stephanopoulos made on air involving the civil case brought against Trump by writer E. Jean Carroll.

Days after Carr took over as chair, the FCC reinstated complaints about the “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, as well as complaints about how ABC News moderated the pre-election TV debate between then-President Joe Biden and Trump. It also reinstated complaints against Comcast’s NBC for allowing Harris to appear on “Saturday Night Live” shortly before the election.

Trump has sued CBS for $20 billion, claiming that “60 Minutes” deceptively edited the interview in order to interfere in the November presidential election, which he won.

CBS, which is owned by Paramount Global, this week called on the FCC to dismiss the complaint “without delay,” but Carr quickly rejected the idea, saying the investigation would continue.

(Reporting by David Shepardson and Dawn Chmielewski; Editing by Leslie Adler and Nick Zieminski)