WASHINGTON, D.C. – This week, America First Legal (AFL) secured a major victory as the Walt Disney Company retreated from key corporate Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) policies.
In April 2022, AFL sent a letter to Disney’s CEO and Board of Directors challenging management for its potential compliance violations and waste of corporate assets. In February 2024, AFL filed a federal civil rights complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) requesting an investigation into Disney’s unlawful diversity programs. In March 2024, AFL notified Disney’s Board of Directors of its discriminatory policies and the risks to shareholders of the company’s unpopular, unlawful DEI practices.
Earlier this week, Disney sent a memo to employees stating that it has decided to eliminate numerous DEI programs targeted by AFL.
To begin with, Disney shut down its DEI website, “Reimagine Tomorrow,” cited by AFL more than 30 times in its letters.
Disney first announced the removal of “Reimagine Tomorrow” as a DEI priority in its 2024 Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Disney’s just-filed Form 10-K for 2024 removed all references to “Reimagine Tomorrow” that were present in its 2023 version and cited in AFL’s 2024 complaint and letter. Disney also appears to have abandoned other discriminatory “[e]mployee development programs and fellowships for underrepresented talent.”
Disney launched “Reimagine Tomorrow,” in 2021, touting it as a website to showcase its companywide DEI policies. A now-deleted webpage announcing the launch of the site described it as a DEI hub highlighting Disney’s commitments “to Amplify Underrepresented Voices” and “affect workplace representation.”
Links to reimaginetomorrow.disney.com are now redirected to inclusion.twdc.com. The new “Inclusion” website no longer features the most egregious DEI policies that AFL highlighted in its 2024 complaints.
For example, the new website no longer features a prominent statement on its homepage stating Disney’s commitment to “amplifying underrepresented voice” and “accurate representation.”
The old “Reimagine Tomorrow” website featured a link to its “Inclusion Standards” document, which revealed discriminatory requirements that applied to essentially all Disney-produced content, including ABC Entertainment, National Geographic, Marvel, Lucasfilm, Hulu Originals, Disney Channel, and more.
In addition, on the old “Reimagine Tomorrow” webpage, under the heading “People,” the website described Disney’s commitment to “ensur[ing] that our workforce reflects the market.”
Now, the “People” page of the new site describes Disney’s new focus to “reach and attract the best, most talented people…”
The old “Reimagine Tomorrow” website also allowed visitors to track Disney’s progress towards its “Representation” goals in Disney content and its workforce. It even featured a function to search based on race, sex, religion, and gender identity, which is not present on the new site.
Now, at least publicly, Disney appears to have abandoned tracking its progress toward its previous representation goals and has removed the options from the new site.
AFL also called out Disney’s use of Diversity and Inclusion in its “Other Performance Factors” for executive compensation, which Axios confirmed is another DEI policy that Disney will banish to Neverland.
Axios also stated that Disney will no longer play mandatory content advisories before classic films like Dumbo and Peter Pan.
AFL highlighted required sensitivity warnings on these same films in its 2024 complaint.
Disney is only the latest corporate giant targeted by AFL to abandon its discriminatory and divisive DEI policies. Thankfully, the federal government has finally joined the battle against corporate abuse of Americans’ civil rights. Even so, AFL will relentlessly continue fighting unlawful DEI in all of its forms.
If your employer or potential employer has discriminated against you based on your race, color, sex, religion, or national origin, you are not alone. Tell us your story here so we can stand together in the fight to demolish illegal DEI.
Statement from Reed D. Rubinstein, America First Legal Senior Vice President:
“For far too long, Disney’s management has used the company as a megaphone for radical social propaganda. With disregard for shareholders and disdain for customer values, Disney’s leadership has burned decades of parent and consumer trust and devastated treasured brands and properties to advance a perversely woke social agenda. AFL will work to help the Department of Justice and other federal agencies keep the pressure on Disney and the other corporations that ignore our civil rights,” said Reed D. Rubinstein.
Statement from Will Scolinos, America First Legal Counsel:
“Disney has finally backed down after years of treating people differently based on characteristics like race and sex. AFL stood up to Disney by taking four actions over three years to shine a light on Disney’s public discriminatory policies. Disney’s removal of its DEI website and policies is part of a growing trend of the public viewing DEI for what it is: discrimination, inequity, and exclusion,” said Will Scolinos.
Read the letters here.
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