The Walt Disney Company has announced that its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) standards are changing.

According to Axios, a note was sent to employees of the company this morning, Tuesday, February 11th, from chief human resources officer Sonia Coleman, with an outline noting the way that the company’s DEI standards and efforts will change.

Many companies have started to also remove or adjust their DEI practices, so it is not surprising that Disney is following suit. According to the note received by Axios, Disney’s changes are not as dramatic as some of the changes that other Fortune 500 companies have made in recent weeks.

The note also states that beginning this fiscal year, Disney will replace the current “Diversity and Inclusion” performance factor with “Talent Strategy.” This new factor will still include concepts from the old factor but will be “more focused on how values drive business success.”

There will also be a new website and DEI rebranding as Disney is getting rid of its Reimagine Tomorrow initiative as well as the website. This initiative was controversial when it was introduced, and its goal was to “highlight stories and talent from underrepresented communities.”

The change will also include a rebranding of its Business Employee Resource Groups, otherwise known as BERGs. The B that once stood for “business” will now be “Belonging,” changing BERGs to “Belonging Employee Resource Groups.” The goal of the rebrand is to focus on strengthening the employee community and workplace experience.

That is not all that is changing. While this was not part of the note sent out today, sources confirmed to Axious that Disney is planning to change the language of some of their content advisories on their streaming services. Previously, the advisories would run before the title started, but now, they will be found in the details section. 

These auto-play content advisory disclaimers run on certain films such as Peter Pan and Dumbo. The warning included the language “includes negative depictions and/or mistreatment of peoples or cultures.” It will now be adjusted to “This program is presented as originally created and may contain stereotypes or negative depictions,” which will once again now be found in the details section.

This is not the first time that Disney has quietly changed the language; last month, Disney removed one word from its Disability Access Service (DAS) website. In 2024, Disney announced a massive change to its DAS program to help limit overuse. When the service changed, the language read, ““DAS is intended to accommodate only those Guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.”

But now, Disney has removed the word “only,” and it now reads, “DAS is intended to accommodate those Guests who, due to a developmental disability like autism or similar, are unable to wait in a conventional queue for an extended period of time.” This change came ahead of a class action lawsuit that was filed against Disney’s DAS policies today.

Since coming back as CEO of The Walt Disney Company in 2022, Bob Iger has tried to remove the company from politics, and it seems like this shift in their DEI programs is his way of taking the company away from being “agenda-driven” and instead “entertainment-driven” as he said in 2023.

We will continue to keep an eye out for more Disney news, so make sure to continue to follow along with the Disney Food Blog!

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