Laverne Cox Says DEI Rollbacks Took a Major Toll on Her Earnings
Actress Laverne Cox has shared how the Trump administration has affected her livelihood. Cox, who is known for her breakout role on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, explains that she’s “lost so much money” because brands are very scared to work with her amid the ongoing rollback of DEI programs. Laverne Cox being affected by […] The post Laverne Cox Says DEI Rollbacks Took a Major Toll on Her Earnings appeared first on POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech..
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Actress Laverne Cox has shared how the Trump administration has affected her livelihood. Cox, who is known for her breakout role on Netflix’s Orange Is the New Black, explains that she’s “lost so much money” because brands are very scared to work with her amid the ongoing rollback of DEI programs.
Laverne Cox being affected by DEI rollbacks
Cox, whose book Transcendent was released in June, told Attitude Uncut that she’s been working hard to get out of a financial hole after she booked Orange Is The New Black. “But then I was also working hard to try to lift up my community. When Orange came out in 2013, I didn’t know how long that moment would last. I didn’t know how successful it would or wouldn’t be.”
She delivered speeches all over the US to humanise the lives of trans people. “I tried to not make that moment about me, I tried to always reference other trans people, the trans people who were the most marginalised, who were being murdered, who were struggling,’ she added.
When speaking about the current political landscape, she says, “This administration is very punitive with anything that suggests DEI or gender ideology, and corporations have been very scared. The past year or two, I’ve had to dip into savings and my retirement fund. So, the blessing is that I finally have the privilege to have a retirement fund to dip into, but you don’t really want to do that.”
Trump’s executive orders affecting the Black community and queer people
The anti-DEI wave has had a significant effect on Black women, as their unemployment rate has reached 7.3% in 2026, according to the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Last year, Black women’s unemployment rate increased from 5.1% in March to 6.1% in April, reached an all-time high of 6.2% in May, then dropped to 5.8% in June, according to Bureau of Labor Statistics data reported by The 19th.
Due to systemic racism and barriers in the labor market, Black workers always face the consequences of the economy first, which paints a picture of the overall financial market, according to Jessica Fulton, a senior fellow at the Joint Centre for Political and Economic Studies, a think tank focused on Black Americans.
President Trump also issued several executive orders addressing the LGBTQ+ community. One order included the policy of the United States to recognise two sexes, male and female,” and directs the Executive Branch to “enforce all sex-protective laws to promote this reality.”
Image: at Hayward/Getty Images for Lifelong
The post Laverne Cox Says DEI Rollbacks Took a Major Toll on Her Earnings appeared first on POCIT. Telling the stories and thoughts of the underrepresented in tech..
