Pepperoni swastika on Ohio couple’s Little Caesars pizza gets workers fired

A couple took home a pizza from an Ohio Little Caesars on Saturday only to find a hate symbol arranged in its toppings, they say.

Misty Laska tweeted she was “truly disappointed” when she saw the backward swastika made out of pepperoni on top of her Little Caesars pizza.

“This is truly saddening and disturbing and not funny at all,” Laska wrote on Twitter. “These aren’t funny jokes and shouldn’t be made period and on company time?!”

Two employees from the Brook Park restaurant have been fired as a result of the incident, according to WOIO. Brook Park is a suburb of Cleveland.

Mista and Jason Laska said they were in disbelief when they opened the pizza box back at their home.

“She turned and asked me, ‘Babe, did you order this? Did they make it for you?’ And I turned around and looked at it and I could see the shock on her face and then my jaw just dropped,” Jason said, according to WJW.

The husband said he received apologies from Little Caesars’ corporate office as well as the franchise owner, WEWS reported.

Jason Laska also wrote on Facebook that his stepdaughter is biracial. “Thankfully she didn’t see this,” he said.

The franchise owner told the husband the pizza was a joke between two employees and that they hadn’t intended to sell it, according to WJW.

“We have zero tolerance for racism and discrimination in any form, and these franchise store employees were immediately terminated,” a Little Caesars spokeswoman told WJW. “We’re deeply disappointed that this happened, as this conduct is completely against our values.”

Misty Laska told WEWS she hoped the fired employees face more severe punishment.

“What repercussions are they getting from that, just termination?” she told the outlet. “When they can just go right down the street and find another job?”

“We’re trying to solve hate and even if this was just a joke internally for the employees, just stop,” Jason Laska added to WOIO. “Stop with the symbolism and let it go away.”

This story was originally published June 29, 2020 at 9:11 AM with the headline "Pepperoni swastika on Ohio couple’s Little Caesars pizza gets workers fired."