Papa John's To Neo-Nazis, White Supremacists: Don't Buy Our Pizza

Papa John's, the official pizza of the NFL, scaled back some of its NFL-related advertising with the aim of distancing itself from the league, blaming the ongoing kneeling protests during the national anthem for a decline in sales.

One group in particular reacted fondly to Papa John's decision, designating the chain as the official pizza for its members. The Daily Stormer, a website that posts blatantly racist content and is read by white supremacists and neo-Nazis, boasted that the Papa Johns stock surged after an endorsement from the website.

A photo posted to the website of a pizza with pepperoni arranged in the shape of a Swastika was captioned "Papa John: Official pizza of the alt-right?" Jack Posobiec, a member of the alt-right who pushed the Pizzagate conspiracy theory, posted a photo of Papa John's pizza on Twitter with the text, "rehearsal dinner with Papa Johns!"

The Daily Stormer lost its domain host in the aftermath of the Charlottesville white nationalist rally after posting a vile story about 32-year-old Heather Heyer, the woman who was killed at the rally by a man who rammed his car into a crowd of protesters. The website still exists on the so-called dark web.

Papa John's pushed back on the endorsement.

“We condemn racism in all forms and any and all hate groups that support it," the company said in a statement. "We do not want these individuals or groups to buy our pizza.”

In a conference call last week, Papa John's expressed disappointment with the NFL, saying the league had hurt the company.

"The NFL has hurt us," company founder and CEO John Schnatter said, per ESPN. "We are disappointed the NFL and its leadership did not resolve this."

Papa John's is not pulling television ads altogether but is pulling the shield of "official sponsor" that appears on the ads, according to the ESPN report. In the call, Papa John's said it expected to continue to see a decline in sales till "a solution is put in place."

Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images News/Getty Images