Morality is not determined by the church you attend nor the faith you embrace. It is determined by the quality of your character and the positive impact you have on those you meet along your journey
Pizza chain Papa John's will end its sponsorship deal with the NFL next season, after years of being "the official pizza of the NFL."
The end of the pizza chain's sponsorship comes two months after Papa John's founder and CEO John Schnatter stepped down amid controversy over remarks he made about NFL players' protests during the national anthem hurting the company's business.
The announcement was reported first by Fox Business Network's Charles Gasparino before being confirmed in an earnings call with the company's investors Tuesday afternoon.
In a statement to media, the two organizations announced that the business relationship would shift to individual relationships with local NFL teams and personalities.
Papa John's says its founder John Schnatter will step down as CEO next month, about two months after he publicly criticized the NFL leadership over national anthem protests by football players.
The company said Thursday that Schnatter remains chairman but will be replaced as chief executive by Chief Operating Officer Steve Ritchie on Jan. 1.
Schnatter had blamed slowing sales growth on the outcry surrounding NFL players kneeling during the national anthem. Papa John's International Inc. is an NFL sponsor and advertiser. Schnatter also said at the time that customers had a negative view of the chain's association with the NFL.
The comments drew praise from white supremacists and the company apologized two weeks later.
Neo-Nazis and white supremacists have always been distasteful, but now it turns out their taste in pizza is terrible, too.
The white supremacist website the Daily Stormer announced Thursday that Papa John’s pizza is the official pie of the alt-right, posting a picture of a pizza with a swastika fashioned from pepperoni slices. The caption reads, "Papa John: Official pizza of the alt-right?"
The pronouncement came after Papa John’s CEO John Schnatter, whose pizza is an official NFL sponsor, blamed his company’s recent losses on NFL players protesting police brutality during the national anthem.
Schnatter was widely accused of racism and of making bad pizza. But white supremacists came to his defense.
“This might be the first time ever in modern history that a major institution is going to be completely destroyed explicitly because of public outrage over their anti-white agenda,” Daily Stormer writer Adrian Sol posted, referring to the NFL and adding disturbingly, “The Negro fatigue caused by this whole NFL fiasco is reaching heights that even I didn’t fully expect.”
Uh...okay.
By the way after Schnatter made his remarks about the NFL protests hurting pizza sales he was trolled pretty hard by other pizza outlets.
Papa John's CEO is blaming poor sales on the NFL. Other pizza brands aren't having it. pic.twitter.com/CzGau6O9L9
So to apparently the other day Crystal O'Connor went on the Fox Business Network to make the following point:
“They are welcome in the store, anyone is welcome in the store, but it’s against our belief to condone, to cater to their wedding. We’re condoning that if we do that, and that is against our religion. That is against our faith,” she said.
Asked how serving gays in the restaurant was different than catering a wedding, O’Connor was at first confused, before explaining that it isn’t a sin to serve gays in the restaurant.
“It is not a sin that we bring gays into our establishment, and to serve them” she said. “It is a sin, though, if we condone — if we cater their wedding. We feel we are participating. We’re putting a stamp of approval on their wedding, and we cannot do that.”
Pressed by Cavuto to explain how that is not discrimination, O’Connor said that it wasn’t “hateful.”
“It’s not all hateful, we show no hatred towards them,” she said. “We just — we ask that they respect as we have to allow the way they believe — we just ask that they respect the way we believe.”
O’Connor stated that the restaurant will open again but was unsure exactly when, saying, “We're not sure when. I'm still shaken over this and I’m the one who will serving the customers and answering the phone, and I’m not ready to face that yet. But it will be soon.”
I have to admit that I am not exactly a biblical scholar but I am having a hard time understanding where in the book is says that one may serve gays who come into your store, but catering a gay wedding is a sin before the eyes of God.
I mean according to Leviticus 18:22 - "Thou shalt not lie with mankind, as with womankind: it [is] abomination."
And in Leviticus 20:13 it says "If a man lies with a male as he lies with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination. They shall surely be put to death. Their blood shall be upon them."
However nowhere does it seem to indicate that you cannot serve a gay person a slice of pizza, or cater their weddings.
As for "condoning" their lifestyle, unless this Crystal person is willing to follow the guidelines in the Bible and put them to death, I would think she is already doing that. At least that is the way the passages were interpreted for over a thousand years.
However once again let me reiterate that if in fact these people received death threats then that is inexcusable, and ultimately self defeating because it only helps to make them a martyr in the eyes of people who think like they do.
Obama entered the shop saying, "Scott, let me tell you, you are like the biggest pizza shop owner I've ever seen," according to a White House pool report.
Van Duzer, 46, is a big guy: He is 6' 3" tall and weighs 260 pounds.
After Obama was lifted up, he said "Look at that!" Man are you a powerlifter or what?"
He continued, according to the pool, talking about Van Duzer's big muscles.
"Everybody look at these guns," he said. "If I eat your pizza will I look like that?"
Van Duzer, by the way, is a registered Republican who voted for Obama in 2008 and says he will do so again in November.
"I don't vote party line, I vote who I feel comfortable with, and I do feel extremely comfortable with him," he told the press pool.
"I feel extremely comfortable with him." Gee, ya think?
I had planned to put up a more serious post, but seriously how could I resist this?
By the way, and I know this is not fair, but can ANYBODY imagine somebody feeling comfortable enough to do this with Mitt Romney?
Update: My he IS a big guy!
Update 2: Here's the video for those who are claiming this was prearranged. I do NOT think the President expected to be picked up.
Looking for a way to show your support for both pizza and the cause of Wisconsin unions, currently engaged in protests against the state's Republican Governor Scott Walker and his anti-union budget bill? Try calling Ian's, a "campus staple" pizza joint in Madison, which has given away thousands of slices of "donated" pizza to protestors, all bought and paid for by people calling in to the restaurant from around the world. No, really, around the world:
The blackboard behind the counter lists the "countries donating" as "Korea, Finland, Egypt, Denmark, Australia, US, Canada, Germany, China, London, Netherlands, Turkey" and has the abbreviations for all 50 states listed below, with donating states circled. As of Sunday afternoon, 38 states had been marked as contributors.
If you want to help along with the supporters from China and Egypt (Somebody PLEASE send this information to Glenn Beck!) then simply click the Gawker link at the top and it will allow you to get in touch with Ian's so you to can send the gift of "protesting pizza" to the brave people of Wisconsin.
Update: Here is a picture of the actual blackboard from Ian's.
