President-elect Donald Trump has tapped billionaire Warren Stephens to serve as U.S. ambassador to the United Kingdom, a move that has outraged one group of people: fans of the New York Jets.
Stephens is the chairman of Stephens, Inc. – a privately held, independent financial services company headquartered in its home state of Arkansas.
Stephens is a major donor to causes championed by the Republican Party and has also contributed to many of Trump’s Super PACs over the years.
But why would New York Jets fans be so angry that an Arkansas businessman got the job? That’s because Trump’s last choice for British ambassador was Jets owner Woody Johnson.
Johnson was nominated as ambassador to Britain in November 2017 – just over a year after Trump was elected to the White House for the first time. He held that position until the day Joe Biden was inaugurated.
Because Trump is going with someone else, Jets fans are furious — as many of them had hoped that Johnson would be forced to give up control of the team like last time.
President-elect Donald Trump has made his choice for US ambassador to Britain
Trump has appointed billionaire businessman Warren Stephens of Arkansas to the position
New York Jets fans are outraged by this choice as they hoped that former British ambassador and team owner Woody Johnson would return to the post and be forced to hand over control of the franchise.
The Jets have been one of the worst teams in the NFL all season and won’t get their first winning record since 2015.
Many fans had hoped that Johnson would be picked as ambassador and forced to hand over control of the team to his brother, Chris Johnson.
While Trump could very well pick Woody Johnson to be ambassador somewhere other than Britain, Jets fans took to social media and didn’t take the news well.
“Well, looks like the Jets are stuck with Woody Johnson screwing things up for another four years,” wrote one user on X, formerly Twitter.
Another user wrote, “Even Trump knows Woody is a useless idiot.”
“There’s nothing to hide from the next four years of ‘sell the team’ chants,” another fan wrote. Another fan called the deal, or lack thereof, “a disaster for Jets fans.” We needed him away from the football team.”
One fan tried to put things into perspective, saying, “I read the disappointed replies and felt the need to remind people that Chris Johnson was just as bad, if not worse, than Woody.”
According to StatMuse, since Johnson bought the Jets in 2000, the team has a 171-228 regular season record and a 6-6 record in the playoffs over six appearances.