Actress Eva Longoria insists DEI is not only 'morally right' but also 'good business'

Actress Eva Longoria suggested to the co-hosts of "The View" that supporting DEI initiatives is not only a "moral imperative," but also "good business."

With President Donald Trump's rise to power once again, many companies have begun dismantling their DEI programs as part of a sea-change across business and culture. 

On Tuesday, "The View" co-host Joy Behar spoke with Longoria about her entertainment production company, noting that it "believes in growing a pipeline of future talent in the entertainment industry," even as DEI programs are being "stripped away" in much of the country. The co-host then asked the actress how she is using her company to push against that trend.

Actress Eva Longoria argued that DEI is not only morally righteous, but good business.

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"Oh, yeah, I mean it’s not just the media industry, but it’s all industries," Longoria said. "But we have to remember why DEI was created, and it was to correct historical exclusion, which is not just about being Latino and Black. It’s women, it’s disabled…it’s LGBTQ+, it’s a lot of marginalized communities that never get to tell their stories."

When asked why people are pushing against DEI, Longoria said she doesn't understand from a business perspective.

"I don’t know, because it’s bad business," the actress said. "It’s not just a moral imperative. Like, I do it because it’s morally right, I want authentic storytelling, and I want the people who have lived these stories to tell them. But we are creating programming for the most diverse audience ever in the history of the world."

She went on to assert again, "It’s not just a moral imperative. It’s just good business, and at the end of the day I’m a businesswoman, so why wouldn’t you want to create for the growing market, not the shrinking market?"

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Eva Longoria arrives to speak on the final night of the Democratic National Convention at the United Center in Chicago, Ill., on Thursday, August 22, 2024.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

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Co-host Whoopi Goldberg addressed critics of DEI to say it’s not going away anytime soon.

"You can say it’s going away. We’re not going anywhere," she said. "So we’re going to keep making the movies we want to make and telling the stories and, listen, if you want to say it’s not happening, we’ll pat your hand and say, ‘Okay.’"