PBS Confirms The Closure Of Its DEI Office

Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) confirmed it has closed its Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) office following President Donald Trump’s executive order to remove DEI from the federal government. 

In a statement from a PBS spokesperson to The Hollywood Reporter, the publicly funded nonprofit organization’s rep said, “In order to best ensure we are in compliance with the President’s executive order around Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion we have closed our DEI office.”

“The staff members who served in that office are leaving PBS,” it added. “We will continue to adhere to our mission and values. PBS will continue to reflect all of America and remain a welcoming place for everyone.”

In a DEI report in Feb. 2023, the broadcast network said it had opened a DEI office in 2022 and staffed it, led by DEI head Cecilia Loving and DEI director Gina Leow. In the report, it said the company had reached a workforce of 44 percent BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, and people of color.)

Last month, Trump signed the executive order “Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEl Programs and Preferencing and Initial Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions,” placing all federal diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) officials on paid leave, as previously reported.

“The Biden Administration forced illegal and immoral discrimination programs, going by the name ‘diversity, equity, and inclusion’ (DEI), into virtually all aspects of the Federal Government, in areas ranging from airline safety to the military,” the order said.

SCOOP: PBS quietly shut down its DEI office and let go of its two top DEI executives—just hours after our Free Press reporter started asking questions. What happened? https://t.co/Arb98f15su

— The Free Press (@TheFP) February 11, 2025

In a separate executive order, Trump said that the government would no longer consider goals like “equity” when hiring but prioritize based on skills, experience, and patriotism.

“Federal hiring should not be based on impermissible factors, such as one’s commitment to illegal racial discrimination under the guise of ‘equity,’ or one’s commitment to the invented concept of ‘gender identity’ over sex,” the order added.  “Inserting such factors into the hiring process subverts the will of the People, puts critical government functions at risk, and risks losing the best-qualified candidates.”

“President Trump campaigned on ending the scourge of DEI from our federal government and returning America to a merit-based society where people are hired based on their skills, not for the color of their skin,” White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said at the time. “This is another win for Americans of all races, religions, and creeds. Promises made, promises kept,” she added about Trump’s EO to end DEI.

Leif Le Mahieu contributed to this piece.

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