Larry Irving Accuses OTT of Diversity Deficit

Consultant and former top Clinton Administration official Larry Irving read online video sites the riot act over what he said was a lack of diversity in the board rooms and the programming suites and just about everywhere else. Irving, who was a top telecommunications advisor to President Bill Clinton, said he had the flu but proceeded to give a stem-winder of a speech in which he took direct aim at Silicon Valley for a lack of diversity and Netflix and Amazon for not funding programming by black or Latino producers or having boardrooms that reflected that diversity. He told his audience that they were ponying up the online video subscription dollars to companies that "don't hire our people or fund our programming." He said that of the 31 shows just announced by Netflix, none were from blacks or Latino producers and that Amazon was hardly any better.