NPR urged its longtime host, Ari Shapiro, one of its most visible gay employees, not to attend a Pride event – and later reversed the decision after the email leaked to many newsroom staffers and media outlets, according to a report.
The public broadcaster’s apparent switch-up on corporate LGBTQ events come as the Trump administration cracks down on diversity, equity and inclusion policies, and as Republicans are fighting to revoke some of NPR’s funding.
“The guidance in our ethics handbook is to ‘avoid appearances at private industry or corporate functions,’” NPR’s managing editor for standards and practices, Tony Cavin, wrote in an email to Shapiro on Wednesday, according to Semafor.
“Because this is a closed corporate event I think it would be best to politely decline,” Cavin added.
NPR did not immediately respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Shapiro, who joined NPR’s “All Things Considered” as a host in 2015, replied several minutes later in an email asking Cavin why he had approved previous appearances at similar events, according to the Semafor report.
“Every year I’ve spoken at corporate pride events and you’ve personally signed off on them. It has never been an issue before,” Shapiro reportedly wrote. “I’m curious what’s changed.”
He also noted that Cavin had “mistakenly replied to newsdesk and international editors” – leaking the correspondence to “pretty much everyone in the newsroom.”
Later on Wednesday, an NPR spokesperson told Semafor that it would allow Shapiro to attend the Pride event after all.
The Trump administration has brought down the hammer on DEI across the private and public sectors.
Soon after taking office, President Trump signed an executive order banning the controversial policies across the federal level.
Attorney General Pam Bondi has threatened to investigate private firms who continue to implement “illegal DEI.”
In the weeks before and since Trump’s inauguration, major companies and Wall Street banks – including Target, Meta and Goldman Sachs – revoked the programs.
Last month, NPR’s chief diversity officer announced he was stepping down, and chief executive Katherine Maher told Semafor the company would not be hiring a replacement.
Meanwhile, the network is staring down federal threats to pull its funding.
In January, FCC Chair Brendan Carr launched a probe into NPR and PBS over their alleged use of “prohibited commercial advertisements,” which he argued could be reason enough to yank their federal funding.
Elon Musk, the billionaire behind the White House’s cost-cutting task force, has also threatened to “defund” the public station, arguing “It should survive on its own.”
NPR said it receives about 1% of its funds from federal sources annually.
Faced with the threats, public broadcaster PBS last month shuttered its diversity office and fired two staffers, citing a need to comply with Trump’s order since the network relies on federal funding.
PBS receives 16% of its funding from the federal government, according to NPR.
