Papa John's Pizza issued an apology Thursday weeks after CEO John Schnatter caused controversy by linking NFL players kneeling during the singing of the national anthem to declining pizza sales.
The comment sparked the Great Pizza War Of 2017 as DiGiorno's social media team began dragging Papa John's.
Us: 🍕📈 Them: 🍕📉
But Papa John's found some support among in an unexpected place: neo-Nazis. A blog post on the racist website the Daily Stormer proclaimed the company "Official pizza of the alt-right."
On Thursday, Papa John's apologized on Twitter for Schnatter's "divisive" comments. "That was definitely not our intention," the company said.
The statements made on our earnings call were describing the factors that impact our business and we sincerely apol… https://t.co/Mo7GRiLmcb
"We believe in the right to protest inequality and support the players' movement to create a new platform for change," the company continued.
We believe in the right to protest inequality and support the players’ movement to create a new platform for change… https://t.co/ByHA2DTvks
And finally, Papa John's publicly denounced Neo-Nazism, giving the finger to racists.
We will work with the players and league to find a positive way forward. Open to ideas from all. Except neo-nazis — 🖕those guys. (3/3)