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Bob Iger’s Wife, Willow Bay, May Have to Move Her Free Speech Fundraiser
The Hollywood Reporter ^ | September 19, 2025 | Peter Kiefer

Posted on 09/19/2025 4:10:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway

A fundraiser for Willow Bay's International Women's Media Foundation, planned to take place at the power couple's Brentwood home next month, may have to relocate after her husband yanks Jimmy Kimmel off the air.

The blast zone from The Walt Disney Company’s decision to pull Jimmy Kimmel’s late-night talk show off the air is now threatening to engulf the Brentwood home of Bob Iger, who just happens to be married to Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.

Iger, along with Disney Entertainment chairman Dana Walden, was the Disney exec who pulled the chord on Kimmel’s suspension over on-air comments about Charlie Kirk’s murder — and that decision has prompted a journalism non-profit that Bay (and Iger) have supported for years to consider distancing themselves from the westside power couple. An annual fundraiser for the International Women’s Media Foundation, an organization dedicated to elevating female and non-binary journalists and boasts some of the biggest names in broadcast journalism as board members — CBS’ Norah O’Donnell, NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell, and ABC News’ Kerry Smith, among others — is reconsidering its decision to hold its annual fundraiser at Bay and Iger’s home next month, according to several sources.

Bob Iger Says Disney Unlikely to Follow Comcast and Warner Bros. Discovery in Exiting the TV Channel Business No final decision has been made, but several board members have expressed their concerns internally over the optics of holding a free speech event at the home of the man who yanked Kimmel off the air. Iger’s decision has prompted widespread condemnation across the media and entertainment landscape as a brazen capitulation to the Trump Administration that’s been trying to silence its critics.

An IMWF source expressed sympathy for Bay, who, as a spouse, should not be held accountable for the decisions of her husband, but then added that as the head of one of the most prestigious journalism programs in the country thrusts her into a particularly tricky spot. “The discussion among some board members is that we just can’t hold this event right now,” says a source.

Bay is a former news anchor and correspondent and worked for NBC’s Today Show and ABC’s Good Morning America Sunday among others. She and Iger married in 1995, and she was appointed the first female dean of Annenberg in 2017. Her ties to the IMWF dates back almost two decades. She’s the chair of the IMWF’s Los Angeles advisory committee and has been a major donor as well. Last year the Iger Bay Foundation gave $50K to the IMWF.

Bay did not respond to a request for comment.


TOPICS:
KEYWORDS: bobiger; disney; freespeech; imwf; usc; willowbay
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1 posted on 09/19/2025 4:10:33 PM PDT by nickcarraway
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To: nickcarraway

Intramural Leftist Wars are popcorn time.


2 posted on 09/19/2025 4:13:34 PM PDT by xp38
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To: nickcarraway

“Willow Bay.”

Sounds like a bedsheet company.


3 posted on 09/19/2025 4:14:41 PM PDT by hellinahandcart
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To: hellinahandcart

“””“Willow Bay.”

Sounds like a bedsheet company.”””””

Stripper


4 posted on 09/19/2025 4:21:46 PM PDT by shelterguy
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To: xp38

Gotta get more popcorn as we watch the left eat its own! 🤣


5 posted on 09/19/2025 4:29:09 PM PDT by Prince of Space (Trump 2024!)
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To: nickcarraway

Willow Bay, dean of the USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism.


Wow! Annenberg is an enormous power center for the Left in the USA!!


6 posted on 09/19/2025 4:29:14 PM PDT by marktwain
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To: hellinahandcart

She kinda was in her on-camera days. She’s been around.


7 posted on 09/19/2025 4:29:19 PM PDT by jjotto ("...saith the LORD: yet I loved Jacob, And I hated Esau...")
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To: hellinahandcart

Ha, that’s true. “Check out JC Penney’s new Willow Bay collection in the bedding and linens department “


8 posted on 09/19/2025 4:32:34 PM PDT by irishjuggler
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To: nickcarraway
... was the Disney exec who pulled the chord on Kimmel’s ...

If this was written by a real person maybe it would be better written by an AI.

9 posted on 09/19/2025 4:38:36 PM PDT by Locomotive Breath
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To: nickcarraway

I saw Michael Eisner who literally set a ratings record with an actually recorded 0.0 rating for his cnbc show is taking jabs at Iger cant figure out why Michael isn’t running Disney anymore.


10 posted on 09/19/2025 4:41:12 PM PDT by Lod881019
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To: nickcarraway
Her name is "Willow Bay"? Sounds like a heroine in a YA novel.

But then my name sounds like a Byzantine empress so who am I to judge.

11 posted on 09/19/2025 4:41:39 PM PDT by Harmless Teddy Bear (It's like somebody just put the Constitution up on a wall …. and shot the First Amendment -Mike Rowe)
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To: nickcarraway

Shedding a tear...


12 posted on 09/19/2025 4:45:35 PM PDT by wetgundog
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To: nickcarraway

Oh? Who is she afraid of? Leftists or Righties?


13 posted on 09/19/2025 4:57:41 PM PDT by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
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To: nickcarraway
Fundraiser for Willow Bay's International Women's Media Foundation

Hmmmmmmmmmm...... Fundraiser?

Has all of the USAID $$$$ disappeared?

Didn't put any USAID $$$$ aside for a rainy day?

14 posted on 09/19/2025 4:59:00 PM PDT by Ronaldus Magnus III (Do, or do not, there is no try )
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To: nickcarraway
.... an organization dedicated to elevating female and non-binary journalists is reconsidering its decision to hold its annual fundraiser at Bay and Iger’s home next month...

More winning! Now they're silencing each other! Ha haaaaaas! It's like The French Revolution all over again.

15 posted on 09/19/2025 5:02:48 PM PDT by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
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“The discussion among some board members is that we just can’t hold this event right now,” says a source.

Not now, not ever again. This is the same conversation the No-bell-go-to-hell prize committee should be having...

16 posted on 09/19/2025 5:03:21 PM PDT by StAnDeliver (TrumpII)
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To: nickcarraway

Willow Bay? Sounds like a $3.99 bottle of wine at Grocery Outlet.


17 posted on 09/19/2025 5:04:09 PM PDT by Texas Eagle ("Throw me to the wolves and I'll return leading the pack"- Donald J. Trump)
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To: nickcarraway

Shocking to hear this woman is a college Dean. I knew someone who knew her before she married and they said she was one of the dumbest women they ever met. Sorry for the snarkiness but I’m truly in shock.


18 posted on 09/19/2025 5:12:13 PM PDT by vivenne (7Come to think of it. Fact)
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To: nickcarraway

Wilow Bay sounds like a state prison in California.


19 posted on 09/19/2025 5:21:24 PM PDT by jmaroneps37 (Freedom is never free. It must be won rewon and jealously guarded.)
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To: All

Disney Chair Bob Iger and wife Willow Bay.

20 posted on 09/19/2025 7:48:43 PM PDT by Liz (May you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead (Irish blessing))
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