15-02-2025
Threats to Valentina's Pizzeria owner over Trump pizza box
MADISON, Ala. (WHNT) — Pizza boxes with artwork of President Donald Trump and his cabinet are causing quite an uproar.
And you may have never seen anything quite like it.
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Valentina's famous Pizzeria, ranked number 31 on the top 50 USA pizza list, is delivering pizza boxes with cartoon graphics featuring President Trump and his cabinet on the outside of the box, and one flip to the inside, depicts Trump and a likeness to Jesus and some are not happy.
'If people don't like the boxes, then they are going to have to go somewhere else to get their pizza,' said Joe Carlucci, the owner of Valentina's. 'Jesus is inside the box saying God bless our country, God bless our president whether its Biden, Harris, Trump, Obama whoever it is.'
Carlucci created one box during the 2024 presidential election, but his political support has caused quite a stir
The social media response Carlucci told News 19 has been mostly negative and divisive. So much so that Yelp, the review website, dropped Valentina's from the engagement platform.
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As a result of the boxes, Carlucci said in the past few weeks, he has received countless false 1-star reviews on Facebook and Google
'Then there is the extremist who wants to attack me and wants to come burn my place down or attack a young innocent girl that I made her say we joked around,' he said.
Carlucci says he can deal with the backlash from his political stance but what really sent him over the edge was a post directed towards his 17–year-old employee.
Carlucci and the employee made a joke about the presidential election being stolen, but that did not go over well on social media.
'Like I said, they can attack me all day but it's not cool to attack a 17-year-old girl. I didn't put her up to it,' Carlucci explained.
Whether it's the slogans on the boxes that read, 'Make Pizza Not War' or 'Eat Pizza Not Pets' Carlucci says his messages will remain until the pizza box inventory runs out
'I don't care what people think of me because I'm not here to win a noble prize. I'm here to try and make the best pizza and customer service with my staff and if that decision on a box makes you choose to not come in here and eat, then how the hell are we going to grow.'
Carlucci says there are plans to make similar animated boxes for Easter, Memorial Day and other holidays.
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