Take that, NFL.
That's what Papa Johns told the NFL when it announced that it will pull some of its ads associated with the league.
The reason -- Papa John's CEO John Schnatter claimed that the ongoing NFL protests have affected his company's earnings.
On 3Q earnings call, @papajohns CEO John Schnatter blames "NFL leadership" for "current debacle" between players and owners. Stock is -5%
— Chris Otts (@christopherotts) November 1, 2017
John "Papa John" Schnatter on protests: "This should have been nipped in the bud a year and a half ago." Papa John's is NFL sponsor. https://t.co/nFEdxsMySI
— Michele Steele (@MicheleSteele) November 1, 2017
Papa John?s says it has been pulling advertising associated with the NFL. The league, it says, has given some future spots in return.
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) November 1, 2017
"Leadership starts at the top and this is an example of poor leadership," Schnatter said, noting he thought the issue had been "nipped in the bud" a year and a half ago.
RELATED: Richard Petty makes clear that he has no patient for anthem protests
Papa J0hn's is official pizza at Chicagoland Speedway, is the primary sponsor for NHRA driver Leah Pritchett, and has partnered with NASCAR in the past to offer discounts at Atlanta.
The racing world has reacted strongly to any efforts from drivers to protest in anyway. Richard Petty and Richard Childress have said they'd fire any employee who protested. Mercedes admonished four-time Formula 1 world champion Lewis Hamilton for thinking about protesting and putting an off-color cartoon about President Donald Trump on his Instagram page; and Ferrari reprimanded Sebastian Vettel for missing the Japanese national anthem;.
In revising sales estimates for the next quarter, Papa John's president and chief operating officer Steve Ritchie said on the call that the NFL deal was the primary suspect behind the decline and that "we expect it to persist unless a solution is put in place."
The protests started a year and a half ago, when then San Francisco quarterback Colin Kaepernick took a knee as a form of protest of racial inequalities. However, more NFL players have started to protest this season, with those protests involving more of a political statement against President Donald Trump instead of what Kaepernick originally started last year.