Equity activists outraged at Disney, Netflix for forcing DEI chiefs out: ‘Corporate blackface’

Diversity activists are accusing the entertainment industry of “corporate blackface” and running out of “White guilt” after a number of Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) executives at top entertainment and media companies suddenly stepped down or were forced out of their roles. 

Between June 20 and July 3, at least five executives overseeing DEI initiatives at leading entertainment companies including Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery, left their posts. All the outgoing execs are Black women. 

An LA Times story published Tuesday linked the high-profile exits to the backlash against “wokeness” by conservative politics and pundits, as many speculate whether the job changes are a result of the growing pushback to the left’s diversity push.

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There has been a string of DEI executives who have left major Hollywood companies including Latondra Newton from Disney, Vernā Myers from Netflix, and Karen Horne from Warner Bros. Discovery. (Getty Images)

The story, titled “High-profile exits spark fears that Hollywood diversity pledges are just ‘PR,’ focuses its ire on the entertainment industry, citing a number of outraged equity activists who accused Hollywood of making insincere commitments to diversity and racial justice programs for “PR” purposes after the George Floyd protests in the summer of 2020.

“Numerous diversity-centered initiatives were established. More transparency around issues of race was assured. But companies have since begun to scale back such commitments and, in some cases, employees dedicated to diversity initiatives, leading some insiders and advocates to fear that the doors to more opportunities once again have been slammed shut,” the LA Times story reads.

DEI executive Karen Horne was laid off from Warner Bros. Discovery on June 30. (Paul Morigi/Getty Images for National Women’s History Museum)

“2020 was the year that we were definitely making strides — but there wasn’t any strategy, there wasn’t any plan,” Kim Crayton, the self-described “anti-racist economist” and author of the book “Profit Without Oppression,” told the LA Times. “It was a PR moment — corporate blackface … I told people at the time: ‘White guilt isn’t going to last.’”

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Vic Bulluck, the founding executive director of the NAACP Hollywood Bureau, called the Hollywood exits “frightening” in the LA Times article.

“Hollywood seems to be sending a message that these programs that were designed to give more access to African Americans are no longer needed,” he said.

Paula Madison, a former chief diversity officer of NBCUniversal, blamed the companies and corporations – not the executives charged with overseeing the initiatives – for the lack of “actual accomplishments” on the DEI front.

“Billions of dollars were committed,” Madison said. “What have been the actual accomplishments? Very little, if anything. So here we are. Now these companies say they’re ‘reorganizing, rethinking and taking a hard look.’ They say they are not pulling away from their commitments. No, they’re not — but they didn’t really have much of a commitment in the first place,” she said.

Latondra Newton stepped down as Disney’s chief diversity officer in June. She first took on the role in 2017.  (Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney)

The article states that despite the massive amounts of money and resources allocated for these initiatives, diversity and inclusion chiefs have struggled with “burnout” after they were unable to “transform their organization’s culture.” The LA Times says Janelle English decided to step away from her job at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (the Oscars) to take time to “recharge” after struggling to push her initiative forward. 

Crayton claimed it was because many of the female diversity chiefs were too busy “navigating White people’s feelings” to make significant changes in their roles.

“If you don’t have the autonomy, the resources or the authority to make changes, it won’t work,” she told LA Times “Many of these women spend the majority of their time navigating White people’s feelings — and you cannot do the work if you have to do that.”

Crayton offered a similar skepticism towards DEI positions on Twitter. 

“Systems, institutions, and policies that privilege the few at the expense of the many operating as DESIGNED…this is why when asked by Black women my opinion about DEI roles I caution them that in most orgs they ARE performative AND expendable,” she tweeted.

Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery reportedly disagreed with the characterization, saying their commitments to diversity and inclusion are “genuine and have not wavered. They point to diverse high-level executives who remain, saying the spate of DEI exits were unrelated, largely due to personal circumstances or corporate restructurings,” the LA Times reported. 

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Disney, Netflix and Warner Bros. Discovery could not be reached for comment.

The DEI push is not just being scrutinized in Hollywood. In Corporate America, the similarly-themed ESG (Environmental Social Governance) movement, which has companies prioritizing social justice and the green agenda, has faced such public backlash that the CEO of BlackRock, which is widely seen as a champion of the ESG cause, expressed remorse last month saying he was “ashamed of being part of this conversation,” reframing such principles as “conscientious capitalism.” 

Fox News’ Joseph P. Wulfsohn contributed to this report.