FCC Chairman Launches Probe Into Comcast and NBCU DEI Practices, Says He Is ‘Concerned’ They May Be ‘Promoting Invidious Forms of Discrimination’

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FCC Chair Brendan Carr has expanded the Trump administration’s fight against diversity, equality, and inclusion, now focusing on companies like Comcast and NBCUniversal.

On February 11th, Tuesday, Carr wrote a letter to Brian Roberts, the CEO of Comcast, to inform him that he had requested the Federal Communications Commission’s (FCC) Enforcement Bureau to initiate an investigation involving both Comcast and NBCUniversal.

Carr expressed his worry that certain diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) practices being promoted by those companies might not adhere to Federal Communications Commission regulations and civil rights laws. He noted that such discriminatory practices have been criticized for years under American civil rights legislation. As the Supreme Court has put it, extreme DEI policies that categorize individuals based on group identity are inconsistent with a free society whose institutions value equality. Carr shared the content of his letter to Roberts as part of this post.

According to Comcast’s representative Sena Fitzmaurice, they have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and plan to collaborate with them to address their queries. For many years, our company has been established on principles of honesty and regard for all our workers and clients.

Atronic Sam Carr, appointed by Trump to lead the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), stated, “It’s fortunate that President Trump has swiftly addressed the issue of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) head-on. Following the president’s executive orders, we have ceased the FCC’s efforts to advance DEI. Furthermore, the FCC is now taking measures to make certain that every company under our jurisdiction adheres to civil rights protections as outlined in the Communications Act and our regulations. We are initiating this process with Comcast, as detailed in my letter.

Following Donald Trump’s re-election as U.S. President, numerous corporations have reduced or abandoned their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) programs. Companies such as Meta, Amazon, Google, PBS, Accenture, Walmart, and McDonald’s are among those scaling back these initiatives. Furthermore, Disney recently informed its top executives that they are revising their DEI strategy by replacing the “diversity and inclusion” component in their executive compensation program with a new “talent strategy” performance factor. This updated factor will assess how leaders uphold company values, consider various viewpoints to boost business success, and foster an environment where all employees can prosper.

Simultaneously, while seated at the FCC, Carr has also criticized “media bias,” such as launching an inquiry into supposed “news distortion” during CBS News’ “60 Minutes” interview with Vice President Kamala Harris last October. Trump is currently taking legal action against CBS over this “60 Minutes” interview with Harris, claiming the news program manipulated the video footage. Last week, Trump expanded his lawsuit to seek $20 billion in damages.

In the 2024 filing of their proxies, Comcast states, “We value a wide range of backgrounds, cultures, abilities, and experiences across all aspects of our company. Our commitment to this diversity is regularly evaluated by our Board, its committees, our executive leadership teams, our internal Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (DE&I) Employee Advisory Council, as well as our external DE&I Advisory Council.

Comcast backs nine employee resource groups, comprising around 36,000 members in 250 chapters. These are voluntary, employee-led organizations that welcome all employees and strive to advance their careers, participate in community service, and foster a more inclusive and cooperative work environment and culture within the company. Furthermore, the corporation provides numerous training programs and initiatives aimed at cultivating a more inclusive work culture. This includes company-wide forums such as our DE&I speaker series, as well as an extensive learning catalog available enterprise-wide.

Concerning NBCU, the Comcast proxy statement indicates that they aim to present a variety of viewpoints in their programming and media content that appeal to a broad spectrum of audiences. By utilizing our platforms, we broadcast culturally relevant narratives and enlighten viewers about diverse cultures, inclusivity, and experiences, such as through an extensive array of diverse content on Xfinity (including specially curated On Demand destinations) and NBCUniversal’s ‘The More You Know’ series of public service announcements.

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2025-02-13 00:18