FCC Chairman Brendan Carr's Attacks on Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Are Racist, Sexist and an Egregious Abuse of Power

WASHINGTON — On Thursday, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr opened an investigation into the diversity, equity and inclusion programs at telecommunications giant Verizon. In his letter informing Verizon of the probe, Carr invoked the company’s proposal to purchase Frontier Communications, a deal the agency is reviewing. 

Verizon’s website describes its diversity, equity and inclusion efforts as including “executive mentorship for women” and “exploring the impact of workplace bias.” The site also notes that Verizon provides a nondiscriminatory work environment by “celebrating diversity across all spectrums, including but not limited to race, national origin, religion, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, veteran/military status, and age.”

Earlier this month, Carr sent a similar letter to Comcast, which owns NBCUniversal. Carr ordered the agency’s Enforcement Bureau to investigate Comcast and NBCUniversal out of an alleged concern about their DEI initiatives. Earlier this week, NBCUniversal cancelled MSNBC programs hosted by Joy Reid, Alex Wagner, Katie Phang and José Diaz-Balart. Reid is Black, Wagner and Phang are Asian, and Díaz-Balart is Latino. NBC Nightly News anchor Lester Holt, who is Black, also announced this week that he’s moving to a more limited role at the network. 

This week, Paramount, which has its own merger with Skydance under FCC scrutiny, informed its staff it planned to scrap its DEI programs to comply with Trump-administration demands. Paramount owns CBS — which the FCC has also attacked for airing coverage the Trump administration dislikes. 

Free Press Co-CEO Jessica J. González said:

“There is a reason that President Trump and FCC Chairman Brendan Carr resort to using the acronym DEI when they attack diversity and inclusion efforts. DEI is just a collection of letters, a convenient bogeyman for their propaganda campaign against the growing diversity of the United States. This is part of their desperate attempt to maintain white dominance.

“Let’s be clear-eyed about what attacks on DEI really are: an attempt to legitimize discrimination against people of color, women, people with disabilities, religious minorities, LGBTQIA+ people and others who have faced bigotry in the United States. This is morally and legally wrong. Congress created the FCC to regulate our communications sector without discriminating on the basis of one’s protected status. Preventing discrimination is right there in the statute, in Title 47 of the U.S. Code, Section 151.

“Brendan Carr’s continued attacks on diversity and inclusion programs at private companies are not only racist and sexist, they almost certainly are a dereliction of his duty to carry out the FCC’s mission. Carr is trying to twist the law to claim that measures designed to increase equality are in and of themselves discriminatory. This is a disingenuous and morally reprehensible position.

“Carr is abusing his power by threatening to hold up mergers or otherwise punish companies with government investigations for failing to fall in line with Trump’s extremist agenda. In doing so, he is eroding equal opportunity.

“Media owners need to resist this unjust incursion and defend their commitments to employing a diverse workforce. Companies like Comcast, Paramount and Verizon should not capitulate or comply with Carr’s witch hunt. And Congress needs to intervene and do its job overseeing the FCC, whose pursuit of censorship, discrimination and cronyism is appalling.”