Shop owner says he's not selling Pepsi until they remove NFL logo

A shop in Athens, Alabama, is refusing to sell Pepsi products until the NFL logo on them is removed, says the owner.

A Facebook post by S&Z Grocery states: "This may cause me to lose some business, but here goes. S&Z supermarket currently will not be selling 20 ounce Pepsi or Diet Pepsi. These two items are currently produced with the NFL logo on them. I refuse to sell the product until the logo is removed."

I will not bow down in order to make a dollar as long as the athletes are allowed to bow down and disrespect the flag and the country I love.

Phillip Stewart, the owner, told WAFF via New York Postthat he removed the cans from the shelf himself:

I don't want to support them in any way, because I feel like it's just wrong. i can't in good conscience see the product because it does have the logo on it. 

i pulled them myself, the customers didn't know I was doing this. I sold the product that I had that did not have the logo on it. And I told my rep as well as the delivery guy that I did not want those brought into the store because i would not sell them. 

His decision comes in response to a number of NFL players, led by former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick 'taking the knee' and kneeling during the national anthem. Kaepernick first did it in 2016 as a protest against police brutality, and he recently became the new face of Nike, reigniting the debate about whether or not it was unpatriotic.

Stewart told WHNT that while he understood why players were kneeling, he didn't "agree with the tactic":

The cause is just. I think there are other ways to deal with it. This has brought attention to it I'm sure there is good that comes from this. I just don't agree with the tactic.

He adds that doing this allows him to "sleep at night".

The decision was met with mixed reviews, though he insists his customers support him.

"Good for you," one person wrote on Facebook.

Another commented:

So, protesting, enshrined right there in the 1st Amendment, is now antithetical American Values? Are you sure? Did you forget the Boston Tea Party? Did you forget why this country was founded? Did you forget that freedom is the freedom to protest whether you like it or not? So much anti-American sentiment from so-called "Americans". If you don't like protest, you might not like America. Just sayin.

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