Domino's hits back after anti-Trumper Rick Wilson tries to get it canceled over 2012 Kayleigh McEnany tweet
Domino’s Pizza, on Tuesday, June 16, responded to former Republican political strategist Rick Wilson after he attacked the pizza chain for accepting a compliment from current White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany in 2012. Shortly after McEnany's 2012 tweet complimenting Domino's resurfaced on Twitter on Monday, June 15, Wilson, an anti-Trump Republican, slammed the pizza chain, and called for its "cancelation" over the tweet exchange seven years ago.
McEnany, in her tweet, had written that she thought the pizza chain was "better than any NY pizza," to which the verified account of Domino’s Pizza responded with, “That's one heck of a compliment! Thanks for the love!” The Twitter exchange occurred on November 8, 2012, years before McEnany joined the Trump campaign. At the time Trump had not even announced his campaign for the 2016 presidential elections.
Wilson's response to the years-old tweet received a wave of backlash on social media with Domino's ultimately responding to his tweet. The company, in its response, on Tuesday, said: "Welp. It’s unfortunate that thanking a customer for a compliment back in 2012 would be viewed as political. Guess that’s 2020 for ya."
Shortly after Domino's response, President Donald Trump's eldest son, Donald Trump Jr, also took a dig at Wilson after some of his old social media posts showed a cooler emblazoned with the Confederate flag. Trump Jr tweeted: "Don’t worry @dominos, it turns out that the only brand canceled today is the brand of Rick ‘The South will rise again’ Wilson."
The American pizza giant's response came hours after multiple social media users took to Twitter along with Wilson to "cancel Domino's". The appeal to boycott the pizza chain gradually became a top trend on Twitter as users began writing #BoycottDominos tweets. One user wrote: "Ask @PapaJohns what happened when the embraced the white supremacy coming out of the @WhiteHouse." While another wrote, "This was a mistake. @kayleighmcenany @PressSec is a legitimately legendary liar."
The user was referring to the press secretary's comments made years before she joined the Trump campaign, where she called Trump a "racist," and called his comments against Mexicans and immigrants "derogatory" and "hateful" in 2015.
The pizza chain, however, became a target for many users and they slammed it for being politically inclined. One Twitter user wrote: "Way to align yourself with a political party, Domino’s. Probably should have just been silent." Another posted: "Hey, @dominos. Been a customer for years and been having Domino's at least once a week. No longer. I cannot support anyone who supports liars, racists, and authoritarians."
One said, "I feel sorry for all your franchisees who are about to go out of business because of your thoughtless endorsement of this evil regime who gives to the rich, cages poor children, and cares not one piece of pepperoni for the 116,000 people they let die." Another upset Twitter user posted, "Well, last night was the last Dominoes pizza I’ll ever order." What's more, one blatantly wrote: "Mental Note #6,342: Never eat @dominos again."
There were several others who pointed out how bizarre the 'Domino's canceling' trend was. "Apparently, we're boycotting Dominos because of a Tweet from 2012. For what it's worth, I haven't eaten Dominos in years because they were supporting some 'pro-life' nonsense at one point. I haven't really missed them," one tweet read and another said, "Not #Dominos getting dragged for a tweet from 2012 y’all really got nothing but time."