Paramount Global — as it seeks approval from the FCC to close its deal with Skydance Media and amid a pending lawsuit filed by President Trump against CBS News — told employees that it will change some of its diversity, equity and inclusion programs to comply with the Trump administration’s directives.
In a memo to employees Wednesday, Paramount co-CEOs George Cheeks, Chris McCarthy and Brian Robbins, cited Trump administration’s mandates requiring “changes in the way the company approaches inclusion moving forward. As a result, some of our policies must change to comply with these new mandates.”
Trump has made getting rid of DEI initiatives in the federal government a priority, and his administration is applying pressure to thwart such programs in the private sector as well.
Per the Paramount co-CEO’s memo, obtained by Variety, the company will “longer set or use aspirational numerical goals related to the race, ethnicity, sex or gender of hires.” In addition, it has ended its policy of collecting race, ethnicity, sex or gender data for U.S. job applicants on its forms and careers page, except in those markets that legally require us to do so, per the memo.
The media company also has eliminated the “Diversity, Equity and Inclusion” qualitative metric in its short-term incentive plan that directly connected 5% of funding for the program to Paramount’s “success in progress on companywide DEI initiatives, including aspirational representation goals,” the execs wrote. Now, Paramount will base 10% of STIP funding on its “Workforce Culture and Development” qualitative metric, “which is focused on building a high-performing and inclusive culture, including through developing leadership and engaging our workforce. ”
“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 Paramount execs wrote. “That may mean expanding existing programs while ending others. As our policies continue to evolve in the future, we will be sure to share those updates with you. ”
In a separate broadside launched at Comcast and NBCUniversal, Brendan Carr, the Trump-appointed FCC chairman, this month notified Roberts that the agency’s Enforcement Bureau was opening an investigation into the company over diversity, equity and inclusion practices. Carr said he was “concerned” that Comcast and NBCU are “promoting invidious forms of DEI that do not comply with FCC regulations & civil rights laws.” Comcast, in response, said it would cooperate with the FCC probe and that, “For decades, our company has been built on a foundation of integrity and respect for all of our employees and customers.”
In addition, Paramount Global is locked in a legal dispute with Trump. Trump sued CBS News over a “60 Minutes” interview with former VP Kamala Harris that aired Oct. 7, alleging the news program deceptively edited the video. Earlier this month he amended his lawsuit against CBS to demand damages of $20 billion.
