In early November, pizza company and NFL advertiser Papa John’s opted to play the Trump card regarding the #TakeTheKnee protest. It backfired in a big-league way.
Now, it’s nothing new for the company’s staunch right-wing founder John Schnatter to pump his chest out in public, but the company’s divisive statements made during a November earnings report put them over the line. Papa John didn’t like how the NFL was dealing with players who were #TakingTheKnee during national anthems.
The protest began this past year when NFL player Colin Kaepernick got down on one knee during a game’s national anthem, in hopes of bringing attention to the nation’s gross racial injustice and police brutality. More athletes joined Kaepernick and the protest began to grow. Being the racist, bigoted and giant ass that he is, Donald Trump jumped in and told NFL coaches to fire the “sons of bitches”—get them off the field! The controversy is becoming part of our American history.
That’s when Schnatter jumped in to suck up to Trump—only to find that the majority of the NFL owners, coaches, players and much of the country opposed Trump’s rant and defended everyone’s right to practice his/her First Amendment. So sucking up to Trump didn’t go too well for pizza guy and his dwindling profits.
On Wednesday night, Papa John’s hung its head and took to Twitter on both knees in a somewhat groveling, yet pompous quest for forgiveness…
Rachel Kiley gives the first response and nails it.
As football fans look to the last quarter of a game for the big win, Papa John’s will look to the third and last quarter of 2017 for the big loss.
And though Colin Kaepernick is considered to be one of the most talented, admired and generous human beings (he was named Citizen of the Year) he remains unsigned and continues to be a walking example of what American democracy looks like. Cheers to his courage and to those who stand behind him.
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