John Schnatter Resigns As Papa John

America will soon have a new Pizza Dad.

John Schnatter, the founder and the familiar face of Papa John’s, is resigning from his role as the CEO of the pizza restaurant chain company, according to a press release on Thursday.

Schnatter’s departure comes in the wake of a controversial statement he made during a press call in early November, in which the 56-year-old executive claimed that the company’s third quarter sales were affected by the declining viewership of the National Football League (NFL) and its inability to put an end to the ongoing #TakeAKnee protests.

Not only did Schnatter's bold remark fan the flames on a national debate that was already approaching its boiling point, but it turned America’s unofficial national food into a political battleground, allowing its competitors like Pizza Hut and Digiorno to seize the moment by sharing their growth in sales on social media. Suddenly, the official pizza sponsor of the NFL became the unofficial pizza of the Alt-right. Papa John's became a centerpiece in an endless crusade by conservative knuckleheads to Trigger the Libs. Prominent alt-right figure Jack Posobeic made a show of serving his wedding guests Papa John's. The Daily Stormer, an infamous hub of white supremacist ideals, welcomed Schnatter’s thinly-veiled criticism of #TakeAKnee by posting a photo of a pizza with a swastika on it made out of pepperoni. After a sharp 11% decline in shares and getting brazenly dunked on by the competition, one can imagine the shareholders of Papa John’s were not so pleased with the news.

Interestingly enough, #TakeAKnee isn’t Schnatter’s first foray into American politics on behalf of his delivery pizza company. Back in 2012, Papa John’s struggled with a major boycott and online backlash after Schnatter implied that the company may resort to reducing the hours of employees as a result of the U.S. Healthcare Reform.

With Schnatter gone, the company's chief operating officer Steve Ritchie will step in as the new CEO of America's third largest pizza delivery chain. A Step-Papa John, if you will.