Amazon Studios Quietly Steps Back From Diversity Goals Amid Trump DEI Crackdown

Amazon Studios is rolling back division-wide policies aimed at boosting diversity on its series and films.

The Culver City studio implemented in 2021 an inclusion playbook, with the goal of more accurately reflecting audiences worldwide. The standards revolved around boosting racial, ethnic and gender diversity, including one that aspired to cast at least one Black, Latino, Indigenous, Middle Eastern or Asian character for speaking roles.

Other goals featured aiming for at least 30 percent of positions to be filled by women and people from underrepresented ethnic or racial groups, with plans to increase this to 50 percent last year; and casting actors whose identities match the characters they’re playing. In addition, productions were asked to seek bids from at least one woman-owned business and minority-owned business.

The inclusion playbook was removed from Amazon’s website in September and is no longer in effect.

“We’ve said from the beginning that our efforts to ensure diverse and inclusive storytelling would be fluid and change over time,” an Amazon Studios spokesperson told The Hollywood Reporter when asked about the removal of the playbook. {snip}

{snip} The Department of Justice said earlier this month that it would direct prosecutors to penalize and eliminate “illegal DEI” mandates across the private sector. {snip}

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