Papa Johns

Pizza franchise Papa John’s is pulling all NFL TV and print advertisements — worth millions of dollars in ad revenue — due to the ongoing NFL protests which he says is hurting his sales.

Papa John’s founder John Schnatter said the ongoing protests are hurting his business and he blamed the NFL’s leadership for not stopping the protests sooner.

According to ESPN’s Darren Rovell, Schnatter said the NFL’s protests should have been “nipped in the bud” 18 months ago.

Schnatter said his shareholders are complaining and sales are down due to “negative consumer sentiment”.

But social media users are accusing Schnatter of racism.

“The hell with @PapaJohns. He just guaranteed many of us will NEVER eat his cardboard pizza,” tweeted TV One host Roland S. Martin on Wednesday.

 

 

The NFL protests were started by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick who refused to stand for the National Anthem in protest of police brutality.

Nowadays, NFL players have seemingly forgotten the original purpose of the protests.

Now they are kneeling in defiance of critical comments made by President Trump. Meanwhile, NFL ratings are down 7.5 percent overall compared to last season.

Papa John’s has deals with 23 of the NFL’s 32 teams, according to Rovell. In response to Schnatter’s criticism, the league promised him free future ad spots.