*Laverne Cox says the financial fallout from the Trump administration’s rollback of DEI initiatives has hit her directly.
The Emmy winner told Attitude that brands have grown reluctant to associate with her over the past year. “I’ve lost so much money because of this administration, the past year,” Cox said. She added that acting roles, branding deals, and speaking engagements have helped her stay afloat, but one source of income disappeared unexpectedly.
“I managed to stay busy with acting and branding work, as well as speaking engagements. But I never thought college speaking gigs would dry up,” she added.
Cox rose to prominence as Sophia Burset on “Orange Is the New Black,” a role that made her the first transgender performer to earn a Primetime Emmy nomination in an acting category in 2014. That same year, she became the first openly trans person to appear on the cover of Time magazine. She later added another milestone when Madame Tussauds unveiled the first wax figure of an openly transgender person in her likeness.
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As a Black trans woman, Cox said the current political climate has made it harder for her to find consistent work. “This administration is very punitive with anything that suggests DEI or gender ideology, and corporations have been very scared,” she said. “The past year or two, I’ve had to dip into savings and my retirement fund. So, the blessing is that I finally have the privilege to have a retirement fund to dip into, but you don’t really want to do that.”
Cox’s experience reflects a broader pattern across Hollywood. Major companies, including Warner Bros. Discovery, Paramount Global, and Disney, scaled back DEI-related policies last year, with WBD exiting third-party diversity surveys and Disney ending its Reimagine Tomorrow initiative. FCC Chair Brendan Carr has since pushed Disney to go further, urging the company to eliminate diversity practices in substance rather than appearance.
Actress and creator Issa Rae has voiced similar concerns, describing the industry as facing an identity crisis as funding for diverse-led projects declines and executives grow hesitant to publicly back inclusive work.
MORE NEWS ON EURWEB.COM: Issa Rae Says Hollywood Is in an ‘Identity Crisis’ as DEI Rollbacks Threaten Diverse Storytelling
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