Was Robert Saleh Fired for Supporting Lebanon?
yeah, probably, a little bit...
Let’s talk about one of my favorite subjects: Conspiracy theories. A fun one has popped up over last week’s surprise firing of New York Jets Head Coach Robert Saleh — specifically that he was fired over his support of Lebanon in the aftermath of Israel’s invasion.
The evidence for this is the following:
The timing of the firing is curious, happening on the Tuesday after just the fifth week of the season — Saleh was reportedly a part of team meetings on Monday, and showed up to work Tuesday unaware that he was about to be dismissed. It’s rare for any coach in the NFL to be fired so abruptly, this early in the season, and the team’s owner, Woody Johnson, has never fired a coach in the middle of the season in 25 seasons of owning the team. Plus, the Jets were not exactly falling apart: They were 2-3 at the time of the firing, with two of their losses coming by less than a touchdown, and they could’ve been in first place had they beaten the Bills at home on Monday (instead, Saleh’s replacement presided over yet another close loss).
As mentioned in the above tweets, Saleh, who is of Lebanese descent and the only Muslim coach in the NFL, wore a shirt with the Lebanese flag sewn into the arm on the sidelines of his last game as the coach, when the Jets played the Vikings in London.
Woody Johnson, who owns the team and fired Saleh, is known to have pretty conservative views. He was the US Ambassador to the United Kingdom under Donald Trump, who obviously has very pro-Israel views, and a generally racist and contemptuous view of Arabic countries. Johnson himself is alleged to have made racist statements while serving as Ambassador.
You can see how these three facts, taken together, would fuel some speculation that the motive for the firing was political. There was a strange firing that requires some explanation, and there is an obvious political difference between the fired worker and his boss, which became more salient at the time of his firing. Whether you agree or not, you can at least see why people would reach this conclusion.
Of course, that didn’t stop a bunch of people from rushing in to contemptuously dismiss the suggestion that the Lebanese flag played any role in the decision. The Sporting News published a “fact check” piece insisting the “firing was due to team performance.” TMZ Sports called the flag theory “utter nonsense.” And ESPN’s Kevin Clark dismissed it as, of course, a “conspiracy theory.”
And, look, there are certainly other, more reasonable explanations for the firing: Saleh’s record as the Head Coach was only 20-36; the Jets had underperformed expectations through the first five games; he and quarterback Aaron Rodgers didn’t seem to get along; etc. But it’s not clear why you would believe those football-related explanations over the Lebanese flag one, unless you have some reason to give Woody Johnson the benefit of the doubt — something no boss or owner deserves, least of all the owner of the fucking New York Jets.
In fact, on closer inspection, none of the “reasonable” explanations really make any more sense than the Lebanese flag one: Yes, Saleh’s head coaching record was bad, but it was worse before the season started, when the team could have fired him and hired a number of promising coaching candidates who were looking for jobs this off-season. But, at that time, the Jets made a decision to give Saleh a mulligan for the Zach Wilson years, and let him have a chance with Aaron Rodgers — only to pull the plug five games in.
And yes, he and Rodgers had conflict, but Rodgers has a history of conflict with head coaches, and he denied having anything to do with Saleh’s firing. Maybe he’s lying, but his preferred play-caller, Nathaniel Hackett, was removed by the new regime anyway, so it’s not obvious why Rodgers would have insisted on firing Saleh NOW.
In other words, the decision to fire Saleh was obviously impulsive. So it’s worth considering what, in addition to the standard football reasons, would have motivated Johnson to act in this impulsive way. A lot of the same Serious Football People who dismiss the Lebanese flag theory are willing to entertain the idea that Johnson — who was, recall, the UK Ambassador — was particularly embarrassed about losing in front of all his British friends.
Is this really more plausible than the Lebanese flag theory?
It’s not even strictly accurate to call the Lebanese flag theory a “conspiracy theory” since nobody is alleging that anyone was “conspiring” at all. All some people believe is that Woody Johnson, who seems like a pretty stupid guy with some pretty standard, right-wing, racist opinions, was inflamed enough upon seeing the Lebanese flag that he decided he was finally done with Saleh. That some rich asshole would become the latest rich asshole to punish workers for speech that might be interpreted as a criticism of Israel. Obviously he’s never going to admit that was the reason, but it doesn’t mean it didn’t play a role. Remember, these are the same owners who blackballed Colin Kaepernick for kneeling during the national anthem.
At the heart of the issue here is the absolute power of bosses over hiring and firing. After all, Woody Johnson’s position is such that he doesn’t need a reason to fire Robert Saleh. If he decided he wanted to fire his coach because he didn’t like the shoes he was wearing, he would be totally free to do so. All he’d have to say is the same rote bullshit owners and executives say whenever they fire their coaches: “I decided it was time to go in another direction, yada yada yada.”
This type of power is a recipe for abuse, but it’s just the reality of the capitalist system we live in. Rather than confront that uncomfortable fact, we just dismiss it as a “conspiracy theory” any time someone alleges that a boss might let his own personal biases cloud his judgment of an employee’s performance. But the truth is, that kind of thing happens all the time in workplaces around the country, especially now, when people are being punished and blackballed for expressing any view that could be construed as mildly critical of Israel. It’s not a “conspiracy theory” to suggest this happen in the NFL, too.
It just bothers me when people use the term “conspiracy theory” to dismiss any allegation that people with power might behave with motives that are less than pure. As if the suspicion that someone like Woody Johnson is a bad guy could only come from ignorance or naivety.
Kevin Clark, in the tweet where he dismissed the flag theory as a “conspiracy theory,” pointed out that the Lebanese flag was part of a popular NFL initiative to get coaches and players to embrace their culture on the field, that it was the “same as Nick Sirianni wearing an Italian flag patch.” So which side seems more reasonable to you? The one who thinks Woody Johnson might be racist, or the one who thinks the Lebanese flag and the Italian flag are viewed the same way? Who’s being naive, Kevin?