, Joanna Abeyie, the BBC’s creative diversity director, joined their ranks. And even though the steady stream of departures is alarming, multiple industry sources tellSo what’s happening? Multiple sources say the exits are being prompted by a mixture of frustrations over a lack of financial support and resources, unnecessary roadblocks that prevent these executives from having a meaningful impact and more importantly, an overwhelming cultural exhaustion that has plagued Black leaders.
In the case of Warner Bros.’ Horne, her departure is said to be the result of restructuring, not recent layoffs, via a memo sent by Asif Sadiq, Warner Bros. Discovery’s head of DEI. WBD is moving to transform its system by having people in the different regions focus on employee initiatives. It’s still unclear if a segmented and localized approach will be as effective as company-wide one.
The environment was very different in June 2020, when public outrage over the murder of George Floyd led to companies sharing black squares on social media and commitments from media conglomerates and other companies to “do better” when it came to diversifying. Well, three years later, it’s starting to feel like they’re done “trying.”