Christopher Johnson (football executive)

Christopher Wold Johnson (born c. 1959) is an American businessman and sports executive who is the current CEO and Chairman of the New York Jets of the National Football League (NFL).^[1] He is a great-grandson of Robert Wood Johnson I (co-founder of Johnson & Johnson), and the brother of Woody Johnson who is currently the United States Ambassador to the United Kingdom and is also the owner of the Jets.^[2]

Stance on Kneeling

As the Chairman of the New York Jets, Johnson has supported the collective actions of his players' rights and privileges to kneel or to stay in the locker room during the pregame playing of the American anthem. While he was one of the NFL Team owners that voted for the policy enacted in May 2018 to penalize and fine any player who does not stand during the Anthem^[3] he has offered to pay the fines incurred by players who choose to kneel or stay in the locker room stating:

"If somebody [on the Jets] takes a knee, that fine will be borne by the organization, by me, not the players." Johnson said. "I never want to put restrictions on the speech of our players. Do I prefer that they stand? Of course. But I understand if they felt the need to protest. There are some big, complicated issues that we're all struggling with, and our players are on the front lines. I don't want to come down on them like a ton of bricks, and I won't. There will be no club fines or suspensions or any sort of repercussions. If the team gets fined, that's just something I'll have to bear." ^[4]

Personal life

Christopher had four siblings growing up Woody, Keith, Billy, and Libet.

References