Papa John’s has an important message for white supremacists: Please, don’t buy our pizza.
The alt-right started singing the pie chain’s praises after CEO John Schnatter made a controversial statement last week during a conference call with ESPN. In it, he blamed the NFL’s handling of players’ protests of police brutality and racism for the chain’s recent dip in pizza sales.
“The NFL has hurt us,” Schnatter said during a conference call, reports ESPN. “We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this.”
Schnatter’s comments drew ire on social media.
“Papa John’s financial struggles started well before the NFL protests because its pizza is terrible,” tweeted Judd Legum, editor of news website ThinkProgress.
Writers at neo-Nazi website the Daily Stormer quickly sided with Papa John’s, declaring it the official pizza of the alt-right, reports Newsweek.
Soon afterward, people on Twitter created memes about the pizza chain’s affiliation with Nazis.
But Peter Collins, senior director of public relations at Papa John’s, was quick to shoot back with a statement disavowing the chain’s new fans: “We condemn racism in all forms and any and all hate groups that support it,” he wrote in a press release. “We do not want these individuals or groups to buy our pizza.”