Glamorous star of iconic TV show says DEI is 'morally right' and 'good business'

Daily Mail​

24-04-2025

'Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria has declared DEI is 'morally right' and 'good for business.'
The actress shared her opinion on The View Tuesday, while the panel was discussing the entertainment industry. Joy Behar had brought up how Donald Trump is 'stripp[ing]' DEI-centered initiatives from companies, since Longoria owns one of her own.
The owner of Beverly Hills-based Hyphenate Media Group went on to make several statements that defied the president directly, while painting the approach to government or business as a means to push back against 'historical exclusion.'
Trump, meanwhile, has vowed to 'terminate every diversity, equity, and inclusion program across the entire federal government'.
DEI supporters say the initiatives tackle unfairness in society that can make it harder for marginalized groups to get ahead by leveling the playing field.
Critics say such measures are often divisive and persecute one or more races in favor of another.
'I mean it's not just the media industry, but it's all industries,' she set out on explaining, after being asked how she is using her production company to buck against the trend.
'DEI was created... to correct historical exclusion,' Longoria insisted, claiming it's 'not just about being Latino and black. It's women, it's disabled…it's LGBTQ+, it's a lot of marginalized communities.'
Behar, 82, then asked why Longoria believes DEI was being targeted, leading the star - billing herself as business-minded - to say, 'I don't know.'
'Because it's bad business,' the 50-year-old went on. 'It's not just a moral imperative.'
'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,' she asserted.
'But we are creating programming for the most diverse audience ever in the history of the world.
'It's not just a moral imperative. It's just good business,' Longoria repeated, adding 'and at the end of the day I'm a businesswoman.'
Since Trump took office, multiple huge corporations have begun dialing back on DEI measures including Meta, Google and Ford.
Other topics touched on by were high society in Spain and Longoria's last time visiting the late Pope, as well as Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's latest Signal leak scandal.
They also talked up Pope Francis's legacy, and his efforts to implement progressive reforms.
When it comes to Hollywood, however, numbers show identity politics have failed to move the needle numbers-wise, with the recent Snow White film surfacing as a flop.
The film, which came out late last month, was one of the worst-performing live-action Disney adaptations of all-time, raking in just $43 million at the box office in its opening weekend.
The film - for which Disney cast Pro-Palestine actress Rachel Zegler - boasted a budget between $250 and $270 million.
It had been long delayed after controversy erupted over its original dwarf depiction, which some - including the movie's biggest star - slammed as offensive.
The studio responded by announcing in late 2023 it would be pushing back the release date for 'Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs' by a full year - before stripping 'The Seven Dwarfs' from its title as Zegler continued to criticize the original.
It received just a 43 percent critic score on Rotten Tomatoes.
Longoria, meanwhile, has described herself as a 'proud American, proud Texan' but is currently living in Spain.
She moved there with her husband and their six-year-old son several years ago, saying the decision was not due to her disagreements with Trump.