Papa John's, the pizza chain that was once sued for sending too many text messages to customers, is now having to denounce Nazis and white supremacists after tossing its flour-covered chef's hat into the NFL national anthem debate.
According to The Huffington Post, Papa John's CEO and ardent Trump supporter John Schnatter claimed that because football players continued to kneel, his company was experiencing a dramatic loss in business and stock valuation, which was down 24 percent by the end of last week.
"The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle to the players' and owners' satisfaction," he said last week. "The NFL has hurt Papa John's shareholders...Leadership starts at the top, and this is an example of poor leadership."
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Ugh, what an inconvenience it is for a man with a net worth of approximately $1 billion to have to deal with people confronting police brutality and systemic racism.
Of course, some people really did sympathize with Schnatter. According to The Huffington Post, notoriously white nationalistic outlet The Daily Stormer was thrilled with Papa John's NFL criticism and posed the question, "Papa John: Official pizza of the alt-right?"
I won't be quoting any of the other offensive things the author wrote, but it appears that an alarming number of people, some featured below, agree with their horrific views.
I just got my first Papa John's pizza in years. Besides the fact I like their pizza,
— Larry Schweikart (@LarrySchweikart) November 3, 2017
can you guess why?
Thankfully companies like papa John's have cut ties w the national felons league in favor for American values
— PinkAboutIt ?? (@Pink_About_it) November 1, 2017
Kneel for that! #BoycottNFL
Goodell is killing pizza sales.
— BlueReaganite (@ThinBlueLR) November 1, 2017
Papa John's stock is down 24%
Hating America is bad for business.??
Going to buy a lot of Papa John’s pizza from here forward.
— Boycott NFL (@LostinAR) November 1, 2017
Because being in bed with neo-Nazis is really only fashionable if you're in the White House (and because CBS News reports Papa John's lost about $70 million after Schnatter made his insensitive comment), Papa John's communications team released the following statement to The Huffington Post: "We condemn racism in all forms and any and all hate groups that support it. We do not want these individuals or groups to buy our pizza."
Can't wait for the response: "Fine, it was hard to get your garlic sauce out of our white robes, anyway."
Jokes aside, Schnatter should feel free to make his opinions heard. But he, just like any other businessperson who airs political grievances, has to be prepared for the fallout. Whether right or wrong, people will put their money where their values are. Make your dollars count.