by Jeroslyn JoVonn
March 2, 2025
Paramount is the latest company to rethink its DEI strategy amid Donald Trump’s attacks on inclusion initiatives.
Paramount, the parent company of BET, is adjusting its approach to diversity, equity, and inclusion to comply with Donald Trump’s executive orders restricting such initiatives.
The New York Times obtained a memo sent to Paramount’s co-chief executives on Feb. 26, outlining changes to the company’s DEI. policies. In response to Trump’s push to eliminate diversity programs in both the federal government and the private sector, Paramount stated that its policies “require changes in the way the company approaches inclusion moving forward.”
“With our business objectives firmly in mind, we will continue to evaluate our programs and approach to ensure that we are widening our aperture to attract talent from all geographies, backgrounds and perspectives,” the memo said. “That may mean expanding existing programs while ending others.”
The memo sent by Paramount co-chief executives Brian Robbins, George Cheeks, and Chris McCarthy announced changes which include discontinuing the use of aspirational hiring goals based on race, ethnicity, sex, or gender, halting the collection of gender and diversity data for many U.S. job applicants, and removing the DEI component from its employee incentive plan.
The changes come as Paramount’s multibillion-dollar merger with Hollywood studio Skydance is under review by the Federal Communications Commission, whose chairman, Brendan Carr, has criticized DEI policies. Carr sent a letter to Comcast earlier this month, notifying the cable giant of his investigation into DEI policies aimed at eliminating “invidious forms of discrimination” within the media sector.
Paramount is the latest company to reevaluate its approach to DEI since Trump returned to office in January. Other major companies, including Target, Walmart, Meta, and Disney, have made similar adjustments to their diversity and inclusion initiatives.
Paramount has already started removing references to D.E.I. from its public statements. Its “Global Inclusion” page no longer mentions DEI, and the company is also eliminating the term from its annual financial filing. This marks a sharp contrast to the company’s DEI page last May, which highlighted how D.E.I. was embedded “into every aspect of our employee experience.”
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