New York Times Reporter Was Chastised By HR For Liking Chick-Fil-A

In case you had any doubts about how pervasive left wing ideology is at The New York Times, one reporter's account of the introductory process at the once-prestigious newspaper should end those.

Adam Rubenstein published a lengthy, and must-read article in The Atlantic on Monday about his time at what used to be one of the world's most important media outlets. On top of discussing the incident on Chick-Fil-A, it also takes a fascinating look at the behind-the-scenes internal reaction to the infamous Tom Cotton op-ed on using the military to quell riots after George Floyd's death. And Rubenstein's account confirms pretty much everything you'd expect about just how intolerant, regressive and puritanical The New York Times has become.

Rubenstein opens the article by describing an ice-breaking game during new employee orientation. Part of the game was to answer a simple question, "what's your favorite sandwich?" Rubenstein said he considered one option before settling on Chick-Fil-A. "The spicy chicken sandwich from Chick-fil-A," he answered, and assumed that was the end of it. It most certainly was not.

"We don’t do that here. They hate gay people," the HR person responded. Rubenstein continued, "People started snapping their fingers in acclamation. I hadn’t been thinking about the fact that Chick-fil-A was transgressive in liberal circles for its chairman’s opposition to gay marriage." He then responded to the HR admonishment by saying, "Not the politics, the chicken," but said it was too late to avoid the shame and embarrassment.

Could not be more perfectly New York Times if you tried.

Pedestrians walk past a Chick-fil-A in the Manhattan borough of New York City. (Photo by Jimin Kim / SOPA Images/Sipa USA)

New York Times Claims To Be ‘Paper Of Record’

Liking Chick-Fil-A sandwiches is an opinion held by quite literally millions of people across the United States. Liking a spicy chicken sandwich just means that someone has an objectively correct sense of taste, and says nothing about their political views.

But for the Times, any deviation of standard progressive orthodoxy from anyone associated with any company is grounds for shame and dismissal. Rubenstein is not exactly a MAGA-hat wearing Trump supporter, but because he likes a sandwich bewilderingly associated with "the bad guys," he was immediately an outcast in his new company.

And its not just that that's concerning, but how open and proud they are of their political goals. As Rubenstein says later in the article, "I’d revealed that I wasn’t on the same team as my colleagues." They can forgive hypocrisy, spreading harmful misinformation about COVID and outright falsehoods. As long as they service the correct ideology. 

What they can't forgive is liking Chick-Fil-A, because that's perceived as an anti-progressive political statement. In fact, his description of the reaction from liberal Times staffers was so embarrassing, many on the left rushed to deny that it ever happened. Except The Atlantic confirmed that Rubenstein's co-workers at the Times with "contemporaneous knowledge" corroborated his story.

It's no wonder why the overwhelming majority of America, the Chick-Fil-A loving majority, is tuning them out in greater numbers.