Disney Rolls Back DEI Program Amid Investor Scrutiny
The Walt Disney Company has dropped aspects of its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) initiatives, according to its latest Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filing. Investors are now urging the company to go even further in rolling back such programs.
According to a report by Fox Business, Disney has removed its “Reimagine Tomorrow” program from the DEI section of its 2024 SEC 10-K report. In previous filings, the company described the initiative as a platform for “amplifying underrepresented voices and features some of Disney’s DE&I commitments and actions.” The program became widely known after a 2022 meeting in which Disney executive producer Latoya Raveneau spoke about her “not-at-all-secret gay agenda” in children’s programming.
“On my little pocket of Proud Family Disney TVA, the showrunners were super welcoming… our leadership over there has been super welcoming to my not-at-all-secret gay agenda… they’re going hard… I don’t have to be afraid to have these two characters kiss in the background. I was just, wherever I could, adding queerness,” Raveneau said at the time.
Disney’s “Reimagine Tomorrow” webpage states that its mission is “amplifying underrepresented voices and untold stories as well as championing the importance of accurate representation in media and entertainment.” The page also detailed racial and gender breakdowns of the company’s workforce and content as of 2021.
“Disney dropping [Reimagine Tomorrow] from their DEI section could mean they’re walking back their DEI investments, or it could signal they’re hiding them,” explained Stefan Padfield, director of the Free Enterprise Project for the National Center for Public Policy Research, in a statement to Fox News. “Either they recognize that more litigation is coming, or it could be part of a vibe shift.”
Disney’s decision to scale back the DEI section in its SEC filing comes as numerous major corporations have taken similar actions recently. As consumers continue to be hesitant towards DEI practices, companies like Amazon, Meta, Target, and others have scaled back or removed entirely DEI initiatives within their companies.
