PBS is shutting down its diversity office, becoming the latest in a string of public and private entities to make similar decisions in the wake of executive orders from President Trump.
As part of the change, PBS also fired executives Cecilia Loving and Gina Leow, who were both hired in 2021 to spearhead the broadcaster’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts in 2021.
PBS CEO Paula Kerger downplayed the news, saying “we were committed to telling the stories of all Americans before we had an office, and will continue to do it afterwards.”
Kerger said the network needed to comply with Trump’s executive order banning DEI in federal programs since it receives about 16% of its funding from the Department of Education and National Science Foundation.
A number of groups of suing the administration over the executive order.
Kerger acknowledged that conservative lawmakers have long targeted PBS for supposed bias.
“I think it is different this time because so much is under scrutiny,” Kerger told the Associated Press. “I never assume that government funding will continue. I think we have to work hard each and every time these questions come up to make sure we are making the case of why this is important.”
Earlier this week, Google made a number of changes to its products to reflect Trump’s orders, including renaming the Gulf of Mexico in Maps and cutting Black History, Pride and other months from Calendar.
Last week, the NCAA banned transgender women from competing in sports in order to comply with a similar executive order.