LeBron Fans Call Foul on Papa John’s
If it’s a Monday morning in the middle of May, it must be time for Washington Wizards fans to look back on another first-round playoff loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers. As usual, there’s controversy, but this time, it involves food.
Jon over at So Good had tickets to the fateful Game 6 on Saturday night, and of course was on the lookout for any corporate giants to take down, so he was delighted to see Wizards fans wearing shirts that taunted LeBron James for being a crybaby, especially when he realized these shirts were sponsored by Papa John’s Pizza.
Some shrewd marketing pandering by Papa John’s to endear themselves to the quality-pizza-starved Beltway crowd, but unfortunately for the company, it turns out people in Cleveland have both television and the Internet. And they are not happy.
For those of you who are unfamiliar with LeBron James, his status in the state of Ohio is roughly similar to that of Jesus, albeit with less concern about genocide.
Fast forward a few hours, and angry Cavs fans are swearing to never eat at Papa John’s again, the Boycott Papa John’s website is up and running, and the corporate office has been forced to issue an official apology to LeBron Nation, complete with a $10,000 donation to a Cleveland charity and a slash of their prices in the Cleveland area to 23 cents per pizza (pick-up only, those bastards). Of course, if you take into consideration the high-quality ingredients used in Papa John’s pizza, they’re still looking at about a 22 cent profit on each pie.
After the j, check out So Good being interviewed (!) about the controversy on Cleveland television.
Wait, do we have a spokesperson?
I think reporters are used to dealing with “Spokespeople.”
I assumed it would say So Good “Author” or “writer” or something. But since I write the blog alone, I guess I would be the official spokesperson. So yes, you guys should get a spokesperson. I nominate you 80.
This is great, do you think we too can get a large chain to diss a well known and “liked” DC celeb, Marion Barry perhaps!
funny you should say this. e-double and I shared a flight back to dc late last night with the elusive Marion Barry…
No way! Did he eat anything?
as a man of the people, he rode coach and starved with the rest of us. (in truth, we don’t know if he ate anything–he didn’t sit close enough for us to tell).
To be honest, I’m surprised good ol Papa Johns would say that about our hometown hero. I mean, it’s not like there isn’t Papa Johns in Cleveland, you know? And being a Clevelander, let me just say, we know how to hold grudges.
I just shared this with my friends and family in my home city of Cleveland, in case they didn’t get the memo! Booo Papa John’s!