As more ICE attacks hit LA this Juneteenth holiday, the Bob Iger-owned Angel City FC has taken a stand for immigrants as others have remained silent and afraid of Donald Trump.
Less than a year after Iger and spouse Willow Bay dropped around $100 million to became the controlling owners in the $250 million valued all-female soccer team, ACFC has come out strong in opposition to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement actions in LA and waved the flag proudly for the “Immigrant City.”
While individual stars and showrunners have been very vocal in their opposition the past few weeks to cruel ICE raids in LA and Trump deploying thousands of troops in the City of Angels, studios, streamers, social media platforms, many sports teams and other Tinseltown corporations have been like church mouses. Today the feds have swarmed Dodger Stadium, but all the Dodgers organization have said about on this direct attack on their house is they didn’t let ICE in.
This morning, ICE agents came to Dodger Stadium and requested permission to access the parking lots. They were denied entry to the grounds by the organization. Tonight’s game will be played as scheduled.
— Los Angeles Dodgers (@Dodgers) June 19, 2025
However, just days ago, in a move backed by Iger (outside of his Disney CEO role), Bay and other owners such as Eva Longoria, Uzo Aduba, Jessica Chastain, America Ferrera, Jennifer Garner, and Lilly Singh, supporter groups and the players, ACFC printed up 10,000 t-shirts with “Immigrant City F.C.” on the front and “Los Angeles Is For Everyone” on the back in English and Spanish for its June 14 home game.
Neither Iger or USC Annenberg School for Communication and Journalism dean Bay had a comment on the initiative for this story. Yet, sources tell me the usually controversy adverse power couple were consulted every step of the “Immigrant City” process in their ownership role. Iger and Bay also signed off on the measure, which is viewed within the organization as very much on brand for ACFC, I’m informed.
A frequent donor to Democratic candidates over the years and having rebuked Trump more than once in the past, Iger and Disney have been heavily criticized this year for being seen as trying to buy the MAGA chief’s favor. Specifically, aside from the recent exit of Terry Moran from ABC News over posts lambasting Trump and top aide Stephen Miller, the backlash was started by Disney for paying the then POTUS-elect more than $15 million in December to end a defamation suit Trump had brought over remarks This Week anchor George Stephanopoulos made saying Trump had been found “liable for rape.” What Trump was found guilty of was sexually abusing and defaming writer E. Jean Carroll over a vile department store incident decades ago. Trump was ordered to pay Carroll $90 million in damages, which he has been appealing.
The settlement by Disney was one of the first but far from the last appeasement of Trump by a major media company since he won last year’s election.
In that greater context, the idea for “Immigrant City” emerged in near real time from the ACFC leadership, with the Bay-led board on board from the beginning, on June 7 as the team hosted the Chicago Stars at BMO Stadium. On that day, Trump escalated tensions in LA with the federalization of California National Guard troops for deployment in reaction to protests against June 6 wide-spread ICE raids and detentions of the undocumented and even those with legal status. As the match with the Stars was ongoing, the team took to social media with a clear message:
A week later, on the same day million participated in No Kings protests across the country, around 2,000 of the shirts were placed on supporters’ seats in BMO Stadium, with the remainder were handed out to fans as they arrived for the match against the North Carolina Courage. It is unclear if either Iger or Bay were at the June 14 game when the shirts were distributed and pro-immigrant statements were made loud and proud.
Getting hefty orders from all over the USA over the last week, the shirts are also available for sale on the team’s site. “All net proceeds are being donated to Camino Immigration Services, ensuring that the campaign has a direct, positive impact on the community,” an ACFC spokesperson says. CIS’s mandate is “to serve the immigrant community by providing quality legal counsel on immigration matters and connecting immigrant families to available resources,” as the well-respected organization itself declares.
On June 14, the entire ACFC team walked out on to the pitch wearing “Immigrant City” t-shirts. Head Coach Alexander Straus, who had been on the job for just two weeks that day, wore the shirt the whole match.
If that didn’t send a loud enough message, there was also a poem read aloud from the pitch by founding investor Becky G, who flew in from the East Coast for the occasion. “The fabric of this city is made of immigrants,” the Latin Grammy nominee proclaimed, as the crowd read along with her from a postcard distributed before the match. Becky G added to cheers: “Football does not exist without immigrants. This club does not exist without immigrants.” As you can see below, the singer concluded: “This is our home. This is LA. This is Immigrant City.”
Iger and Bay may have no public comment on the of the club’s “Immigrant City” stance, but ACFC CEO and club co-founder Julie Uhrman was resoundingly and refreshingly clear-eyed about the stakes at play. “This moment was one of the most powerful statements Angel City has made,” the former Lionsgate executive told Deadline with reference to the connection to their fans and community that has been at the core of the Natalie Portman co-founded team since the franchise was formed in 2020. “We’ve worked tirelessly to build a platform to support our community, grow women’s football, and advance equity. This was our opportunity to put that platform into action – and show the world we stand united.”
ACFC’s strong stance is in stark contrast to the muzzled hush from C-Suite Hollywood, as some kiss the ring and others, like the Skydance buying Paramount Global, bend over backwards to seek a deal with Sun King wannabe Trump. That’s in contrast to muted response at best of the LA Kings, the Lakers ,the Clippers, the LA Galaxy and other LA professional teams to the terrorizing and abduction of a significant part of their fanbase by the masked feds and the protests that have followed over the overwhelmingly Latino detained Angelenos. Soccer team LAFC put out a statement on June 8, the day after Trump invoked an obscure statute to federalize the California National Guard for duty on the streets of LA. Posted online in English and Spanish, the heavily Latino supported LAFC said: “Today, when so many in our city are feeling fear and uncertainty, LAFC stands shoulder to shoulder with all the members of our community.”
LAFC’s public words are a world away from the reaction of World Series winners the LA Dodgers. As well as saying nothing as an organization, the Dodgers, whose fanbase is estimated to be 40% Latino, requested R&B star Nezza to not perform “El Pendón Estrellado, the Spanish-language version of ‘The Star-Spangled Banner,’ at the June 14 game. The singer, who was celebrated by the LA City Council on June 18, did it anyway and later posted video online of Dodgers reps trying to talk her out of performing in Spanish. That tin-eared move came as a fully-kitted out fan was escorted out of Dodger Stadium recently for brandishing a small anti-ICE banner as MAGA hat wearers sat all around.
With rumors that the Dodgers organization may make a move this week to show support for immigrant communities, the Trump administration sent ICE agents to the team’s stadium in a clear act of intimidation. The Dodgers have yet to say anything beyond the tweet they put up in the last hour about denying the federal agents access to their massive stadium complex. The Shohei Ohtani-starring team certainly has not taken a strong position like ACFC. As more militarized raids and ICE actions were taking place all over the DHS targeted Sanctuary City of LA, it was baseball fans and others who put themselves between the masked agents and the area.
federal agents at Dodger Stadium. pic.twitter.com/ZDdOAbtVhE
— Jacob Soboroff (@jacobsoboroff) June 19, 2025
Officially, as Blue cities like LA, NYC and Chicago are openly blitzed by ICE and DHS, and Gov. Gavin Newsom fights Trump in court, it is still radio silence from Disney, Universal, Netflix, Amazon and other studios and streamers, as well as major sports franchises and leagues.
The post Bob Iger’s Angel City F.C. Sure Has Something To Say About LA ICE Raids As Disney, Other Studios & Most Teams Stay Silent appeared first on Deadline.
