It’s not often you see a major news network quietly shut down entire editorial teams that focus on race, identity, and gender — and then try to spin it as “business as usual.” But that’s exactly what NBC News just did.
This week, NBC slashed 150 newsroom jobs — about 7% of its editorial staff — just as the company is prepping for a major shakeup. And here’s where it gets controversial: among those cut were entire teams that focused on stories about Black, Latino, Asian American, and LGBTQ+ communities.
Yes, you read that right. The same NBC News that spent years highlighting its “commitment to diversity” just dismantled the editorial teams behind NBC BLK, NBC Latino, NBC Asian America, and NBC Out — all in one round of layoffs. Officially, executives say it wasn’t targeted. But it’s hard to ignore who got hit the hardest.
BREAKING: Fake news NBC has FIRED ~150 employees (7% of its staff) as ratings continue to plummet.
Reports also indicated that diversity teams dedicated to black, latino, asian American, and LGBTQ news were among the cuts.
WINNING
pic.twitter.com/gaCFKUnOKs
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) October 15, 2025
Critics are already sounding the alarm. GLAAD called it part of a “dangerous pattern,” warning that cutting these teams removes trusted journalists from platforms that claim to serve diverse audiences. Their spokesperson said it was “a terrible and poorly-timed loss for journalism and our democracy.”
And you know what? Regardless of where you fall politically, there’s something unsettling about the timing.
Because this didn’t happen in a vacuum. The layoffs come just as NBC’s parent company, Comcast, is spinning off MSNBC and CNBC into a new public company called Versant Media Group. That means massive restructuring, belt-tightening, and — if the trend holds — a whole lot of corporate jargon about “streamlining” and “focusing on brand strength.”
But let’s be real: When newsrooms talk about “streamlining,” they rarely mean upper management is taking a pay cut.
NBC News has terminated 150 staff from its diversity units — NBC Black, NBC Latino, NBC Asian, and NBC Out. The layoffs account for about 7% of its workforce amid growing financial troubles. Woke garbage isn’t selling, & it’s not a sustainable business model.
by Mr_Rightside pic.twitter.com/cE8kNMDbxa— FlimFlam (@JDscramble425) October 15, 2025
Instead, it’s the same story we’ve seen across big media over the past few years — flashy promises about “diversity, equity, and inclusion” when it’s trendy, followed by a quiet reversal when the financials get tight.
And yes, some defenders at NBC say the company will still publish content about underrepresented communities — just without full-time, dedicated teams. Maybe a few reporters will be shuffled around to “contribute” to those verticals when needed. But ask yourself this: when a newsroom doesn’t have a team assigned to a topic, how often do those stories actually get told?
Now combine all that with the recent cuts to NBC’s graphics team, shared between MSNBC and NBC, or the corporate silence on other media layoffs across the industry — and you start to get the picture. The business is changing. Fast. And not always for the better.
Some will say this was inevitable. That media has to adapt, that the ad dollars aren’t flowing like they used to, and that streaming is swallowing everything whole. All true, to some extent.
But when the axe falls hardest on the exact groups media companies love to use in their PR materials? It starts to look less like a financial strategy and more like a selective retreat.
And here’s the bigger question that no one at NBC seems eager to answer:
If these voices were so essential, so central to the mission — why were they the first out the door?
The split of MSNBC and CNBC into Versant is expected to wrap by the end of the year. The corporate heads are already rolling out the talking points. Versant CEO Mark Lazarus says it’s not about a big brand name, but about “individual brands.” That may sound polished. But for the 150 people just shown the door — especially those from teams meant to uplift overlooked voices — it probably doesn’t feel like much of a brand at all.
