Louisville-based Brown-Forman joins groups moving away from DEI programs

LOUISVILLE, Ky. (WDRB) -- Some big Kentucky names are moving away from their Diversity, Equity and Inclusion programs.

Louisville-based Brown-Forman is one of them. The company said since it launched its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion strategy in 2019, the world has evolved, its business has changed and the legal landscape has shifted.

Officials did not provide specific details about what will change, but said it "adjusted its work" to drive business results.

"With these new dynamics at play, Brown-Forman adjusted its work to insure it continues to drive our business results while appropriately recognizing the current environment in which we find ourselves," a spokesperson for the company said in a statement on Tuesday.

Brown-Forman has taken down the DEI page on its website.

Last week, the University of Kentucky in Lexington announced it would be shutting down its Office for Institutional Diversity.

The university pointed to a push by Kentucky lawmakers to limit DEI efforts across the state.

"Policy makers have said, and I think, frankly, some folks on our campus have said 'Are you ensuring that you are intellectually diverse? Are you welcoming to all people and all perspectives?' Whether that's someone who is very liberal or someone who is very conservative and everything in between. And really, a university has to be an impartial facilitator of knowledge," UK Spokesperson Jay Blanton said.

The university also will not mandate diversity training, use diversity statements in hiring documents or weigh in on partisan political issues.

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