Warner Bros. Discovery Highlights Continued Lack of Latinos In the Boardroom

It’s the never-ending story that we have covered exhaustingly – Latinos keep getting gypped by the media and entertainment industry.

Time Warner’s Discovery revealed its board members for the soon-to-be Warner Bros. Discovery media company, and it had a stark (total) lack of Latino executives. Yes people, it’s 2022 and we are still having to point this out- including Latinos at the highest levels of media and entertainment is key to keeping us as customers. And we represent a lot of the customer base.

“By failing to bring Latino representation to the boardroom, Warner Bros. Discovery is not only missing a crucial opportunity to build bridges with our community, but also shortchanging the next generation of Latino writers, directors, and artists in Hollywood and beyond — and also fans around the world,” Brenda Castillo, president of the National Hispanic Media Coalition, said in a statement Tuesday.

The coalition posted an altered image of Warner Bros. Discovery’s logo featuring blue skies and puffy white clouds on Twitter. The group mocked the company’s tagline, “Warner Bros. Discovery … the stuff that dreams are made of,” by inserting the words: “Unless You’re Latino.”

Discovery is making completing the $43-billion merger that was announced last year, allowing the media giant to swallow an entire swatch of networks including HBO, CNN, TBS, Cartoon Network, and the Warner Bros. film and TV studio in Burbank. Discovery will combine those properties with its HGTV, Animal Planet, Food Network and Discovery channels, and international networks.

As part of the agreement, AT&T had the right to appoint seven board members and Discovery could pick six. AT&T named five people of color to the 13-member board, but none of them Latinos. Discovery also had not one Latino on its membership submission.

“While we congratulate these new board members, especially those board members of color, on their appointments, having no Latino representation on the board of the newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery is unacceptable, period,” Castillo said in the statement.

“Consider this: Latinos make up approximately 40% of the population in California — where Warner Brothers was originally founded,” Castillo said. “But are the least represented at the executive level and board of director positions.”

What do we have to do to make a change? Start by supporting LATV Network, where we are proudly owned and operated by Latinos.