Paramount Global CEOs Announce They Are Cutting Numerous DEI Policies In Response To President Trump
Paramount Global CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy, and Brian Robbins announced big cuts to numerous DEI policies at the company in response to President Trump’s executive orders.
In a memo sent to staff and subsequently published by Deadline, Cheeks, McCarthy, and Robbins announced, “As you may be aware, the current Administration’s Executive Order, a Supreme Court decision, and federal mandates require changes in the way the company approaches inclusion moving forward.”
From there, they detailed that the company “will no longer set or use aspirational numerical goals related to the race, ethnicity, sex or gender of hires.”
Next, they shared the company “ended [its[ policy of collecting race, ethnicity, sex or gender data for U.S. job applicants on our forms and careers page, except in those markets that legally require us to do so.”
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They did not stop there, the trio also revealed they “eliminated the ‘Diversity, Equity and Inclusion’ qualitative metric in our Short-Term Incentive Plan (STIP) for qualified participants. This metric directly connected 5% of funding for our STIP program to the company’s success in progress on companywide DEI initiatives, including aspirational representation goals. We now base 10% of STIP funding on our Workforce Culture and Development qualitative metric, which is focused on building a high-performing and inclusive culture, including through developing leadership and engaging our workforce.”
Nevertheless, they concluded the memo claiming it still sees inclusivity as a value the company needs to embrace to be successful, “To be the best storytellers and to continue to drive success, we must have a highly talented, dedicated and creative workforce that reflects the perspectives and experiences of our many different audiences. Values like inclusivity and collaboration are a part of the Paramount culture and will continue to be.”
This memo comes after President Trump signed an executive order titled “Ending Illegal Discrimination And Restoring Merit-Based Opportunity.” The order states ““critical and influential institutions of American society, including the Federal Government, major corporations, financial institutions, the medical industry, large commercial airlines, law enforcement agencies, and institutions of higher education have adopted and actively use dangerous, demeaning, and immoral race- and sex-based preferences under the guise of so-called ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI) or ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) that can violate the civil-rights laws of this Nation.”
It notes these “illegal DEI and DEIA policies not only violate the text and spirit of our longstanding Federal civil-rights laws, they also undermine our national unity, as they deny, discredit, and undermine the traditional American values of hard work, excellence, and individual achievement in favor of an unlawful, corrosive, and pernicious identity-based spoils system.”
In order to eliminate these policies especially in the private sector, President Trump ordered his agency heads to provide him a report that identifies “the most egregious and discriminatory DEI practitioners in each sector of concern” and create a “A plan of specific steps or measures to deter DEI programs or principles that constitute illegal discrimination or preferences.”
Furthermore, he indicated that litigation as well as regulatory action could be taken against companies that engage in these practices.
Following the executive order, the Federal Communications Commission announced an investigation into Comcast and NBCUniveral for its promotion of DEI.
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr sent a letter to Comcast and NBCUniversal CEO Brian Roberts informing him that that the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau has been instructed to open an investigation into Comcast and NBCUniversal to “ensure that your companies are not promoting invidious forms of discrimination in violation of FCC regulations and civil rights laws.”
Carr later stated in the letter, “I am concerned that Comcast and NBCUniversal may be promoting invidious forms of DEI in a manner that does not comply with FCC regulations.”
“For instance, Comcast states on its website that promoting DEI is ‘a core value of our business’ and public reports state that Comcast has an entire ‘DEI infrastructure’ that includes annual ‘DEI day[s],’ ‘DEI training for company leaders,’ and similar initiatives. NBCUniversal has similar DEI initiatives, including executives specifically dedicated to promoting DEI across the TV and programming side of the business,” he explained.
Carr then detailed that “promoting invidious forms of discrimination cannot be squared with any reasonable interpretation of federal law. It can only deprive Americans of their rights to fair and equal treatment under the law.”
After going over Supreme Court rulings against such discrimination, Carr explained that the FCC “will be taking he chose to target action to ensure that every entity the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act and the agency’s EEO rules, including by shutting down any programs that promote invidious forms of DEI discrimination.”
As for why Comcast and NBCUniversal were the first to be investigated, he explained, “I am starting this broader effort with Comcast and NBCUniversal for two reasons. First, as noted above, there is substantial evidence that your companies are still engaging in the promotion of DEI. Second, your companies cover a range of sectors regulated by the FCC—from cable to high-speed Internet and from broadcast TV stations to MVNO wireless offerings. Therefore, I expect that this investigation into Comcast and its NBCUniversal operations will aid the Commission’s broader efforts to root out invidious forms of DEI discrimination across all of the sectors the FCC regulates.”
It seems apparent that the Paramount Global CEOs got the message that the Trump administration is not messing around when it comes to eradicating the immoral DEI policies from corporate America.
What do you make of Paramount Global scrapping these DEI policies in response to the Trump administration?
DEI was always illegal, but now companies are worried that people will be more emboldened to file lawsuits, so they are removing the evidence of anti-white male discrimination.
"The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race." - John Roberts, 2007