After a Mass Exodus of Diversity Execs, What’s Next?
Weeks after multiple top diversity executives departed their posts, a group of California lawmakers put pressure on the Hollywood companies that reap a combined $1.65 billion in tax credits from the state. “One executive removal could be a fluke. But four more?” said Sen. Lola Smallwood at a July 13 press conference from the California Legislative Black Caucus. “This is a troubling pattern.”
It’s a sentiment many in the DEI sphere share.
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Amid ongoing merger-induced reorganizations and layoffs, the long tail of COVID economy, two union strikes and general cost-cutting, The Hollywood Reporter talked to a dozen individuals working in and adjacent to the DEI space who express worry that the recent high-level departures could signal a larger unraveling of endeavors Hollywood companies trumpeted in the wake of the 2020 murder of George Floyd.
Of the Hollywood companies that once touted their diversity initiatives but now find themselves with lean departments or without leaders, one individual evokes Brian Cox’s character on HBO’s Succession: “To paraphrase Logan Roy, ‘These are not serious people.’ And the biggest issue isn’t their racism, it’s their incompetence.”
Still, insiders note that, while DEI efforts are often the first line item to be cut in times of studio austerity, recent hard-won gains will be difficult to reverse in totality: “You can’t put the toothpaste back in the tube,” notes one current executive working in DEI.
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The first in the flurry of high-profile exits became known June 20, when Disney’s chief diversity officer Latondra Newton exited her role after six years in the post. A week later, Vernā Myers, Netflix’s head of inclusion strategy and the first person to serve in that position, said she would be stepping down after five years.
On June 30, it was announced that Karen Horne, who led Warner Bros. Discovery’s diversity, equity and inclusion for North America, was leaving the company amid post-merger restructurings. A few hours later came the news that Jeanell English would leave the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences after joining in 2020 and less than a year after being named to the newly created post of executive vp, impact and inclusion.
And the departures were not unique to American media companies. July 3 was the last day for BBC’s head of creative diversity, Joanna Abeyie, who stepped down after less than a year and a half in the role.
While the reasons behind these exits are unclear, executives in DEI positions are notably prone to burnout. “People expect you to come into a company and part the waters,” says one top executive. “Sometimes you forget to put on your own oxygen mask.”
For her part, English noted the decision to leave was hers. “Despite successes, this work has not been easy. These paths are often lonely, uphill battles,” English wrote on Instagram. “Leaders in these positions need the support, love, and advocacy while they are in these roles, not only when their departures make headlines.”
In the wake of these exits, voids remain at some companies. Disney has promised a replacement for Newton and WBD said that a search is underway for Horne’s successor. (English’s work will be continued by Kendra Carter, the three-year Academy vet who was elevated to senior vp, impact and global talent development, and Allison Ambili Kumar, manager of representation, inclusion and Equity. At Netflix, Wade Davis will take over for Myers.)
“If CFOs or CEOs or COOs left in this aggregation, what would the response be?” asks Dr. Sharoni Little, who has worked for three decades as an outside diversity and inclusion business consultant via her Strategist Company. “When we think about these exits, it begs the question: Are these positions and the work dispensable?”
Multiple sources note that losing executive talent in the DEI space is particularly detrimental given that the pool of executives remains limited, and one cannot easily be substituted in for another.
A concern, says Little, is “not only what happens to the work, but who can do the work. That’s a concern for me, the thinking that you can sub-in and it does not matter who’s there, necessarily.” Interest and passion are important, but expertise and experience are also necessary, she continues, “Like in other roles, people don’t always have the requisite skills to really understand the totality of this work and why it is not a tangential topic, why it is not a specialty department.”
A 2021 study from Russell & Reynolds that surveyed the S&P 500, which includes top entertainment companies like Disney and Netflix, said that the average chief diversity officer (CDO) tenure is now under two years, compared to more than three years in 2018. Sixty percent of 2018 CDOs had left their positions by 2021.
The recent batch of exits is just the latest in a trend over the past year. Diversity execs Christy Haubegger and MyKhanh Shelton were exited as a part of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger a year ago, while execs at other entertainment companies like Apple have been let go in recent months.
Bounceback emails have been coming with more regularity, notes Lauren Appelbaum, senior vp communication and entertainment at RespectAbility, the nonprofit organization that consults with top Hollywood studios. She says, “Folks who were let go were in the middle of doing great programs or just finished a great program, and then it’s, ‘Bye.’”
The news of the back-to-back departures also came as the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action in higher education. While the ruling was limited to higher ed, there are cases currently under review that could challenge DEI initiatives that extend into business, with some noting that it could impact hiring practices. And, while the ruling had no legal bearing on DEI efforts in Hollywood, those who spoke for this story note that the ruling dovetailed into existing anxieties about the place that diversity efforts hold in the country. “This is not just something that’s happening within the entertainment industry, but something that’s happening culturally,” says Appelbaum.
There are also the downstream effects that come when high-ranking people of color exit a company. Myles Worthington, a Netflix marketing veteran who founded and heads ethnographic marketing and content company Worthi, notes that those top-ranking diversity executives can sometimes be the only people of color operating at that level within any given company. “When you are a junior to mid-level person of color, you see this person and think, ‘Oh great, I’ve got somebody who’s thinking about me and my community.’”
So, when exits happen at the highest levels of companies where institutional change was promised, says Worthington, “You’re like, ‘All the things they said were bullshit.’”
These high-level exits can engender suspicion in the greater entertainment industry, even at companies who have not seen any changes in leadership. “It affects other companies who are still steady at it,” notes one top studio DEI exec. “The suspicion, the rub-off just by being in proximity and adjacent to [the exits] can then call into play the work that is still very much continuing.”
While the corporate studio structure has long been established, refined over a century-plus of Hollywood, the addition of executives that handle diversity efforts and talent programs remains relatively new. Sometimes, they fall under HR departments and elsewhere they may sit under production arms or as their own vertical. Sources note, not every entertainment company has top diversity executives report directly to the head of companies.
“It starts at the top. Having that relationship with the CEO, which is understood across the company, it goes a long way,” says Marva Smalls, the global head of inclusion at Paramount, of reporting directly to Paramount Global CEO Bob Bakish. “Knowing you are partners, and there is nothing lost in translation between you and the person calling the shots.” Additionally, Smalls notes, it is important to her work that she regularly meets with the board of directors, whom she is able to address directly.
Amid the apparent upheaval, those who spoke for this story say entertainment companies that may be reconsidering their approaches to DEI need to interrogate the reasons behind their establishing of departments and initiatives.
Over her years of consulting, Little, who served as CAA’s head of global inclusion before leaving the company at the top of the year, says the question she has led with is, “Why are you wanting to do this?” The question is necessary to test the commitment and will of companies, she notes. “If you do not allow the strategy, systems and the resources to follow, it’s still going to fail because there is no way we can strategic work.” (Sydney Davis now heads global inclusion strategy at CAA.)
Jamila Daniel, CDO of Lionsgate and senior vp human resources at Starz, says her job is made easier by working at a network whose content specifically caters to underrepresented and diverse audiences. She explains, “I don’t have to keep making the case over and over again. It’s more about: What can we do that’s going to be most impactful? What can we leverage throughout the organization? Those are more the questions that I deal with, versus having to constantly make the case and fight for why we should do it. Everyone knows the why.”
Looking forward, insiders outline several reasons as to why DEI efforts in the entertainment industry will maintain through current upheavals.
“Racial reckonings are so cyclical. We saw it with the rise and fall of UPN and other moments where being ‘diverse’ is ‘in style’ or demanded, but once the pressure is seemingly off, those at the top default to what they know best and/or what they think will be the most generally successful,” surmises Worthington. As compared to cycles past, he notes that the difference for the contemporary entertainment industry is twofold: BIPOC audiences make up a greater percentage of viewership, and BIPOC creatives and executives have built up their own ventures, outside of the studio system.
“Hopefully no one person can stop momentum,” says one executive, currently heading inclusion efforts for a major Hollywood company. “Efforts are not tied to one individual, so when one leaves, it doesn’t mean that the work should stop. The work can’t fit with one single person or department. It’s a collective effort, top down, bottom up.”
Multiple individuals note that the internal work of diversity executives is an industrywide, externalized effort that should span production, creative and talent, along with corporate. Says an executive, “Part of holding a company accountable is showing there are many stakeholders.”
But, ultimately, there needs to be buy-in from those at the top of entertainment companies, especially the C-suites, which themselves need to diversify. Says Worthington, “These are the spaces where we need more BIPOC leadership in C-suite roles that have power, not roles that were made up for vanity and self-defense.”
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