It Just Gets Worse: Disney Under Investigation For DEI Practices
The news just keeps getting worse for The Walt Disney Company.
Disney, like so many other corporations, turned itself into a factory of generic progressive political posturing starting in 2016. As with the entertainment industry at large, the film studio dedicated itself to churning out movies that resonated with an extremely tiny percentage of the available audience. With predictably disastrous results.
Movie after movie bombed at the box office, culminating in a loss of brand prestige that Disney has yet to recover from. And the news got worse in 2025, as "Captain America: Brave New World" came in well below expectations. Only to be overshadowed by the remarkable commercial and critical failure of the live-action "Snow White" remake.
READ: 'Snow White' Hits Another Remarkable New Low
That's all bad enough; but on Friday, Disney learned it is also under investigation for another one of its progressive practices: obsessive incorporation of discriminatory DEI policies.
Disney CEO Bob Iger made it clear that TV networks may not be at the core of the company's future. (Photo by Slaven Vlasic/Getty Images for The New York Times)
Disney's Political Extremism Coming Back To Haunt The Company
FCC Chairman Brendan Carr on Friday posted on X that he'd asked the FCC's Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation into Disney and its subsidiary company, ABC.
Carr sent a letter to Disney CEO Bob Iger informing him that Disney would be facing an investigation over potential discrimination resulting from DEI initiatives at the once-iconic entertainment giant.
In the letter, Carr says he's "concerned that Disney and ABC have not been violating FCC equal employment opportunity regulations by promoting invidious forms of DEI discrimination."
He also wants to ensure that Disney actually ends its practices, instead of simply re-branding them to a different name and department.
"For one, I want to ensure that Disney ends any and all discriminatory initiatives in substance, not just name," Carr writes. "For example, I have seen reports that Disney recently walked back some of its DEI practices, but significant concerns remain."
He also got to the crux of the problem with Disney; how it's moved away from its core mission of family-friendly entertainment into advocacy for their preferred political positions.
"As you know, Disney started out as an iconic American company, focused on family-friendly entertainment," the letter states. "For decades, Disney focused on churning out box office and programming successes. But then something changed. Disney has now been embroiled in rounds of controversy surrounding its DEI policies. Disney’s own annual reports track a shift in focus away from the entertainment that made it successful to instead a focus on social and political issues."
While the past administration tolerated or even encouraged discriminatory hiring practices, Carr and the new administration are clear they won't stand for it.
"Just a few years ago, Disney openly stated that it would ensure that many aspects of your company’s decisions—hiring, casting, programming, and more—would be based on race and sex," he writes. "As you may know, the Communications Act and Commission rules prohibit entities like Disney and the FCC’s longstanding equal employment opportunity rules set forth specific requirements under which Disney’s regulated companies must abide."
If the investigation finds Disney at fault, which given its proud support for race-based hiring might not be hard, there could be stiff penalties for a company already struggling with financial losses from high-profile films. This really shouldn't be that hard; hire whomever you want for the job openings you have. If you feel that your company could grow and improve with different perspectives, great, look for them.
Just don't do it by telling otherwise qualified applicants that they aren't hirable or promotable because of their race. Progressive ideology demands it, sanity, common sense, and the law condemns it. Maybe Disney can now finally learn its lesson.