Major League Baseball (MLB) is the latest organization to bend after President Donald Trump signed an executive order banning diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) initiatives.
On Friday, the MLB announced the removal of all “diversity” references from its careers page.
“Our values on diversity remain unchanged,” MLB said in a statement to The New York Times, saying it was in the process of “evaluating our programs” to ensure they are “compliant with federal law.” As of Saturday, the tab on the far right of the MLB home page reads “inclusion” rather than “diversity and inclusion.”
Trump signed the DEI order only two days into his term, promising to reinstate “colorblind equality.” He has enforced his demands to end “illegal DEI” across the federal government and has also threatened to cut off government funding to states and organizations with DEI programs.
Although the MLB doesn’t receive direct funding from the federal government, many teams benefit from indirect government support, such as tax-free stadium construction. MLB commissioner Rob Manfred last month that although the organization values diversity, it would “try to comply with what the law is.”
“There seems to be an evolution going on here,” Manfred said. “We’re following that very carefully.”
The MLB completely eliminated its webpage for the Diversity Pipeline Program, which sought to cultivate qualified female or minority MLB candidates.
Trump adviser Stephen Miller, who’s been criticized for his anti-immigrant stance, founded a legal group called America First that in 2023 filed a complaint with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission against the MLB, which alleged its programs were racially discriminatory.
The MLB is not the first company that America First Legal has filed complaints against over DEI policies. The right-wing group has also filed complaints against NASCAR for discriminating against white men. Miller’s group also urged the EEOC to investigate discrimination against white, male, and heterosexual people at “woke” corporations like Nordstrom, Tyson Foods, Anheuser-Busch, Morgan Stanley, and several airlines.
Earlier this week, the Department of Defense removed an article dedicated to Black baseball legend Jackie Robinson from its website. It came as federal agencies commanded federal agencies to slash any mentions of DEI, including some mentions of the transgender community and other Black or Native American historical figures.
Pentagon Press Secretary John Ullyot at the time echoed Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s sentiment that “DEI is dead at the Defense Department,” and “Discriminatory Equity Ideology is a form of Woke cultural Marxism that has no place in our military,” he told USA TODAY.
The web page was later restored, and the Pentagon pointed fingers at artificial intelligence for “mistakenly” removing the content.
