Papa John apologizes for ‘Crybaby 23’

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

CLEVELAND — American pizza restaurant chain Papa John’s issued an apology to Cleveland and the Cavaliers for making T-shirts with LeBron James’ number and the word "crybaby" under it.

To apologize, Papa John’s will sell Cleveland residents a large, one-topping pizza for 23 cents on Thursday. The 23 is an homage to James’ jersey number. The company also will donate US$10,000 to the Cavaliers Youth Fund.

The pizza chain’s T-shirts were featured during the Cavs’ games against the Wizards on Friday in Washington. Wizards fans taunted the Cavs, who won the payoff series that night in Game 6.

The shirts started after James complained about hard fouls, and Wizards centre Brendan Haywood called him a crybaby.

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