Watch: Trump hosts event honoring Black History Month

President Trump hosted a reception at the White House Thursday afternoon to honor Black History Month.

The celebration came amid the administration’s moves to gut federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and place DEI employees on leave. He’s also pressed the private sector to follow along, and many have already dismantled their diversity teams including large corporations such as Walmart, McDonald’s and Target.

The efforts have led to legal action and sparked sharp backlash from Democrats and DEI leaders.

Some of the notable guests at the White House, according to The Associated Press, were expected to include Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), Rep. John James (R-Mich.), Martin Luther King Jr.’s niece Alveda King and Herschel Walker, a former football player who Trump tapped to serve as ambassador to the Bahamas.

Trump recognized “American heroes” such as Frederick Douglass, Harriet Tubman, Thomas Sowell, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas and golf star Tiger Woods, who “represent what is best in America and her citizens,” to kick-start Black History Month in the U.S. at the end of January.

Watch the video replay above.