Papa John’s CEO, John Schnatter, is a serious jerk and has never hesitated to show it.  The problem is that when you own a major consumer products company and you take strong political stands, you’re going to piss off at least half of your customers.  Schnatter has now learned that lesson, stepping down after touching off a firestorm by ranting about NFL players protesting police brutality during the national anthem at the beginning of football games.  In 2009 and 2010 he took strong positions against Obamacare, saying he was going to cut employees salaries and raise prices in response to being required to provide health insurance to his employees.  He’s made no bones about how much he hates President Obama and any Democrat.

Welp, Democrats eat pizza, and inexplicably, they had been eating Papa John’s pizza, which is some of the worst on the market. They stopped. After Papa John’s sales started sliding over the political firestorm, other pizza companies, more inclusive of political views, started piling on Schnatter.  White supremacists came to Schnatter’s defense, naming Papa John’s the “pizza of the alt-right”, help that the company clearly didn’t need or want.  The board got enough of it and cut him loose as chief executive.  He still owns 25% of the stock, but I suspect that percentage is going to go down in short order.

Literally.  LOL.