FCC Chairman Brendan Carr has taken the Trump administration’s war on diversity, equity and inclusion to a new target: Comcast and NBCUniversal.
Carr said he sent a letter Tuesday (Feb. 11) to Comcast CEO Brian Roberts “to let him know that I’ve asked the FCC’s Enforcement Bureau to open an investigation into Comcast & NBCUniversal.”
“I am concerned that his companies may be promoting invidious forms of DEI that do not comply with FCC regulations & civil rights laws,” Carr said in a post Wednesday on X, the social network owned by Elon Musk. “Despite DEI’s rapid emergence in recent years, these forms of discrimination have long been condemned by America’s civil rights laws. As the Supreme Court has written, the classifications drawn by extreme DEI policies stigmatize individuals by reason of a group identity and are, by their very definition, odious to a free people whose institutions are founded on a commitment to equality.”
The FCC “will be taking steps to ensure that every company the FCC regulates complies with the civil rights protections enshrined in the Communications Act and agency rules,” Carr said. “We are starting with Comcast for the reasons set forth in my letter.”
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In the letter to Roberts, Carr said 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.” Carr also wrote in the letter that because Comcast companies “cover a range of sectors regulated by the FCC,” including cable TV, broadband, broadcast TV and wireless, “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.”
In a statement, Comcast spokesperson Sena Fitzmaurice said, “We have received an inquiry from the Federal Communications Commission and will be cooperating with the FCC to answer their questions. For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers.”
Carr, who was named to head the FCC by Trump, also wrote, “Thankfully, President Trump has taken quick and decisive action to root out the scourge of DEI. Following President Trump’s executive actions, we have ended the FCC’s promotion of DEI.”
With Donald Trump’s election to the White House for a second term, multiple companies have scaled back or eliminated DEI initiatives. Those include Meta, Amazon, Google, PBS, Accenture, Walmart and McDonald’s. On Tuesday, Disney told senior execs it was updating its DEI approach to replace the company’s “diversity and inclusion” factor in its executive compensation program with a new “talent strategy” performance factor (which assesses how leaders uphold company values, “incorporate different perspectives to drive business success” and cultivate an environment “where all employees can thrive”).
Meanwhile, from his perch at the FCC, Carr has also taken aim at “media bias,” including through an investigation into alleged “news distortion” by CBS News’ “60 Minutes” interview last October with then-Vice President Kamala Harris. Trump is suing CBS over the “60 Minutes” Harris interview, alleging the news program deceptively edited the video, and last week amended his lawsuit to demand damages of $20 billion.
In its 2024 proxy filing, Comcast says, “We embrace diversity of background, culture, skills and experience throughout our business. Our ongoing efforts in this regard are reviewed and discussed by our Board and/or its committees, our senior leadership teams, our rotating Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (‘DE&I’) Employee Advisory Council and our external DE&I Advisory Council.”
Comcast supports nine employee resource groups with approximately 36,000 members in 250 chapters that are “voluntary, employee-led organizations open to all across our business” dedicated to developing the careers of our employees, contributing to community service and building on an inclusive and collaborative workplace and culture. In addition, the company offers a variety of training programs and initiatives focused on “creating a more inclusive workplace culture, including company-wide forums like our DE&I speaker series, along with an enterprise-wide learning catalog.”
Regarding NBCU, the Comcast proxy filing says, “We strive to have diverse perspectives that resonate with a wide range of audiences in our programming at NBCUniversal and in the content we distribute on our media platforms. Through our platforms, we share culturally representative stories and educate our viewers on diverse and inclusive cultures, perspectives and experiences, including through a vast ecosystem of diverse content on Xfinity (including curated On Demand destinations) and NBCUniversal’s ‘The More You Know’ series of public service announcements.”
(Pictured above: FCC’s Brendan Carr, Comcast’s Brian Roberts)