Papa John’s has apologized for comments its founder and CEO John Schnatter made on an earnings call last month where he blamed the NFL and player protests for a weak third quarter.
Papa John’s apologizes for blaming low sales on national anthem protests
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“The NFL has hurt us,” Schnatter said on the call. “We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this.”
In a series of tweets on Tuesday, the company apologized to anyone who found the comments “divisive.”
After Schnatter’s comments toward the league went viral, a white supremacist website declared Papa Johns “the official pizza of the alt-right,” which the company tried to distance itself from.
Papa John’s partnership with the NFL is a crucial part of the pizza chain’s business. As Kate Taylor at Business Insider points out, the pizza giant has partnered with most of the teams in the league and just signed a deal with the NFL and the Super Bowl.
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