Exiled NYT Staffer Vindicated After Journalists Insisted Chick-Fil-A Story Had to Be Fake

Isaac SchorrMar 1st, 2024, 3:53 pm
 
ChIck-fil-A

Phelan M. Ebenhack via AP

Earlier this week Adam Rubenstein, a former New York Times editor scapegoated in the Tom Cotton op-ed affair at the Gray Lady back in 2020, published a tell-all about his experiences at the paper.

In his lede, Rubenstein recalled being chided for identifying Chick-fil-A’s spicy chicken sandwich as his favorite after being asked a seemingly innocent icebreaker at his orientation.

According to Rubenstein, an HR rep replied, “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people,” and his new colleagues celebrated the rebuke by snapping. While Rubenstein provided many more serious examples of bias at the Times, it was this anecdote that attracted the most attention online. Many left-leaning journalists just outright denied that such a thing could have ever happened.

“Never happened,” insisted Nikole Hannah-Jones on X.

“Is anyone going to contact the Atlantic to ask them about the process behind publishing this egregiously fake anecdote,” asked Michael Hobbes.

“All I know is, my sandwich opinions are real and better than this guy’s,” declared Talia Lavin.

While several people came forward to corroborate that Rubenstein had relayed the story to friends shortly after it happened, the disbelief of Rubenstein’s critics persisted.

But on Friday, Washington Post media critic Erik Wemple took to X to reveal that his reporting confirmed that Rubenstein was telling the truth in a thread:

A note about the Chick-fil-A controversy of earlier this week: Former New York Times opinions staffer Adam Rubenstein wrote in the Atlantic that he was scolded in a 2019 orientation session for citing the chain’s crispy chicken sando as his fave. An HR rep said, “We don’t do that here. They hate gay people.” To which, attendees “started snapping their fingers in acclamation,” wrote Rubenstein. The incident was the lede of a feature titled, “I Was a Heretic at The New York Times.”

Folks on X picked up on the colorful incident and…declared that it didn’t happen… But some of Rubenstein’s former colleagues have tweeted that he shared the same story with them at the time. And there’s more corroboration, too. According to several sources, Rubenstein’s encounter with the HR official itself became an HR issue in the weeks following the incident. Rubenstein told some colleagues about it, including longtime columnist David Brooks, who was his supervisor. After hearing about the matter, Brooks apprised then-opinions chief James Bennet, who then discussed it with Rubenstein in his office – and concluded that this sort of treatment shouldn’t persist at the Times. Bennet discussed it with HR. In a coffee-shop discussion requested by an HR rep, Rubenstein casually mentioned the incident. Throughout the affair, Rubenstein made clear that he did not want to file a complaint or receive an apology. I asked my sources whether there were ever any concerns expressed about the factual accuracy of the anecdote, and none of them remembers any such thing.

Rubenstein took a well-deserved victory lap on X.

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