Two Little Caesars employees fired after couple receives pizza with swastika symbol

'I hope the two responsible learn a valuable lesson from this. Spread love, not hate'

An Ohio couple discovered the symbol on the pizza they purchased (pictured is not the same Little Caesars in question) (flickr)

Two Little Caesars employees have been fired after a couple opened their pizza to find pepperonis shaped like a swastika across the top.

Jason and Misty Laska of Middleburg Heights, Ohio, picked up a pizza from the fast food place late on Saturday night only to discover the Nazi symbol, which was backwards, when they opened it up.

Ms Laska shared a picture of the pizza on Twitter, writing she was “truly disappointed”.

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

A picture of the symbol was shared on Twitter and Facebook after the couple first tried to call Little Caesars about the problem so they could get a refund for the pizza. They said no one answered the phone.

The couple was contacted by the company on Sunday.

Reportedly the pizza was prepared before the couple arrived at the business and was placed on the warmer rack.

Little Caesars said two employees acknowledged their involvement in creating the pizza and said it was made as a joke. The pizza was not supposed to be placed on the warmer rack or be sold to a customer.

Both employees were fired by the company.

“We have zero tolerance for racism and discrimination in any form, and these franchise store employees were immediately terminated. We’re deeply disappointed that this happened, as this conduct is completely against our values. We have also reached out to the customer to discuss this personally with him,” the company said in a statement to 19 News.

Ms Laska told Reuters she didn’t think termination was enough given the hate message placed on the pizza, but she wasn’t sure what further action she would take against the two employees.

“This kind of hate being spread around and not taken seriously is why the world is becoming so divided,” she said. “In the climate today a gesture like such is completely unacceptable ... I hope the two responsible learn a valuable lesson from this. Spread love, not hate.”