Skydance vows to eliminate DEI, ensure "diversity of viewpoints" at Paramount

The incoming owners plan to hire an ombudsman "who will receive and evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns" at CBS News.

By Emma Keates | July 23, 2025 | 1:16pm

Photo: AaronP/Bauer-Griffin/GC Images

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Despite generating backlash from the Ed Sullivan Theater to the Senate Floor to the hallowed halls of South Park Elementary in the process, Paramount’s merger with Skydance has still not been fully approved by the FCC. The company certainly seems to be pulling out all the stops to gain favor with this administration, however. First, Paramount settled its ongoing dispute with President Trump for $16 million, a payout Stephen Colbert characterized as a “big fat bribe” a few days before The Late Show was canceled in what the network called “purely a financial decision.” Now, Skydance executives are appealing to another one of Trump’s favored pet projects: eliminating DEI.

Skydance has vowed to launch a “comprehensive review” of CBS to ensure that the network is operating in what it views as the “public interest,” per a letter to FCC chairman Brendan Carr obtained by The Hollywood Reporter. The letter specifically states “New Paramount’s new management will ensure that the company’s array of news and entertainment programming embodies a diversity of viewpoints across the political and ideological spectrum, consistent with the varying perspectives of the viewing audience.” It’s hard not to note the irony of canceling diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives as a path to featuring “a diversity of viewpoints,” and it’s also not hard to read between the lines re: what specific “viewpoints” the new leadership intends to platform.

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In addition to these changes, the company will also hire an ombudsman—someone retained to help field complaints—who will report directly to the president of CBS News and “receive and evaluate any complaints of bias or other concerns” in the news division. The role will be guaranteed for at least two years, with CBS leadership vowing to “carefully review” its findings, the outlet reports.

This is in addition to Skydance’s overall erasure of CBS and Paramount’s previous Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion initiatives. “The company is committed to ensuring that its storytelling reflects the many audiences and communities it serves in a manner that complies with non-discrimination requirements and other applicable laws,” it wrote in a separate letter to the FCC, which, again, some might argue is exactly what DEI was trying to accommodate for in the first place. The letter also ensured that “Skydance, for its part, does not have DEI programs in place today and will not establish such initiatives.”

Paramount already rolled over on some of its previous DEI commitments, but THR reports that this next round of razing by Skydance will impact hiring practices, promotion and development, compensation, and public messaging. It will also completely eliminate the office of global inclusion, which currently runs initiatives based on “leadership engagement,” “content diversification,” and more.

This week, Trump also announced that expects to receive at least $20 million in advertising and PSAs in support of causes important to him from the merger, per THR. This declaration goes against Paramount’s characterization of the deal; at the time, it said it had “no knowledge of any promises or commitments made to President Trump other than those set forth in the settlement.”

Regardless, the trade suggests that closure of the much-discussed deal could come “shortly,” especially with these new commitments from Skydance on the table. We’ll see how it all shakes out (and how the company’s employees continue to process those changes on-air) in the coming weeks and months.