Fast food chain McDonald’s has announced it is “retiring” some aspects of its diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) initiatives, citing a review it conducted in the wake of the Supreme Court’s ruling on affirmative action.

The high court in 2023 ruled colleges and universities could no longer consider the race of an applicant in admissions, a practice known as affirmative action. McDonald’s acknowledged that the ruling led to a “shifting legal landscape” around DEI.

McDonald’s also noted it had completed a Civil Rights Audit of its business that examined its inclusion practices. The fast food giant said it is now “refining our language to better capture McDonald’s commitment to inclusion.”

In its announcement Monday, McDonald’s explained it would no longer set “aspirational representation goals” and will instead “focus on continuing to embed inclusion practices that grow our business into our everyday process and operations.” The chain will also no longer solicit feedback through external surveys and will instead “focus on the work we are doing internally.”

“We are retiring Supply Chain’s Mutual Commitment to DEI pledge in favor of a more integrated discussion with suppliers about inclusion as it relates to business performance,” McDonald’s wrote. “We are evolving how we refer to our diversity team, which will now be the Global Inclusion Team. This name change is more fitting for McDonald’s in light of our inclusion value and better aligns with this team’s work.”

Conservative activist Robby Starbuck, who has led a crusade against corporate DEI initiatives, cheered the move in a lengthy post via X.

“3 days ago I told McDonald’s that I’d be doing a story on woke policies there,” he wrote. “Our campaigns are so effective that we’re getting the biggest companies on earth to change their policies without me even posting a story exposing their woke policies first. Companies can see that America wants sanity back. The era of wokeness is dying right in front of our eyes.”

Jeremy Tedesco, senior counsel for legal group Alliance Defending Freedom, also celebrated the move by McDonald’s.

“This is another big win,” he wrote. “Keep them coming until no companies pander to the overtly political and brand damaging demands of the [Human Rights Campaign].”

Some companies share data with the Human Rights Campaign through the group’s “corporate equality index” survey that analyzes inclusion practices.

The change by McDonald’s follows other major companies scaling back on DEI initiatives in 2024. Among them were Tractor Supply Co., Harley-Davidson, Walmart and the Brown-Forman Corp., parent company of Jack Daniel’s.

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