Several advocacy groups, including the NAACP and GLAAD, are holding their tongues as President Donald Trump’s mandate against diversity, equity and inclusion continues to force changes in the entertainment industry.
TheWrap reached out to these organizations as well as the American Civil Liberties Union, Color of Change and prominent diversity leaders across the entertainment industry, receiving no response.
While Meta, Google and Amazon have all scaled back their DEI efforts in recent years, the highly criticized entertainment industry has started to fall in line. Disney has already ditched portions of its DEI initiatives, even shutting down “Reimagine Tomorrow” a program intended to amplify underrepresented voices and untold stories.
Brendan Carr, Trump’s pick to head the FCC, on Tuesday accused Comcast and NBCUniversal of promoting DEI efforts in a way that failed to comply with the Trump administration’s new regulations. Carr specifically noted that the company’s website, calling DEI a “core value” violated FCC regulations and civil rights laws.
On his first day in office President Trump terminated “illegal DEI and ‘diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility’ (DEIA) mandates, policies, programs, preferences, and activities in the Federal Government, under whatever name they appear.” As a result PBS shut down its DEI office to comply with the new command.
While several advocacy groups spoke up then, issuing statements on the president’s actions within his first week, the groups have stayed silent as the entertainment industry is shelving similar programs.
Hollywood has been highly criticized for a lack of diversity on and off screen. For the first time women finally achieved parity with men in the top-grossing films in 2024. But the industry has already seen steps in a more conservative direction as Trump has taken office.
Trump announced the dismissal of 18 board members, including the chair, from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Friday. The new board “unanimously” elected President Trump to be the Chairman of the Board just two days later. Trump himself has boasted that he has never attended a performance at the Kennedy Center before. Shonda Rhimes resigned from the Kennedy Center Board following Trump’s appointment.
GLAAD has been vocal about Trump’s stances on transgender people, fact-checking the president and providing resources for the community.
The NAACP initially condemned the president’s roll back on DEI programs.
“It is outrageous that the President is rolling back critical Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. DEI programs help ensure that everyone can prosper. It’s clear that President Trump does not value equal opportunity,” NAACP President Derrick Johnson said in a statement Jan. 22.
But both organizations did not respond for requests to comment on the entertainment industry’s part in representation on and off screen.
The ACLU directed TheWrap to a press release from Jan. 24 which broke down what the DEI executive orders meant in the workplace and next steps but did not specifically comment on how the government’s regulation on DEI will affect the entertainment industry moving forward.
