Better Chairman. Better Company. Papa John’s: Founder Resigns Over Racial Slur

LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 07: John Schnatter, Founder and Chairman of the Board for Papa John's Pizza, looks on during the the 19th Annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Saturday, April 7, 2018, in Las Vegas... LAS VEGAS, NV - APRIL 07: John Schnatter, Founder and Chairman of the Board for Papa John's Pizza, looks on during the the 19th Annual DENSO Spark Plugs NHRA Four-Wide Nationals Saturday, April 7, 2018, in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by: Marc Sanchez/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) MORE LESS
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NEW YORK (AP) — Papa John’s says founder John Schnatter has resigned as chairman of the board.

The company made the announcement late Wednesday, hours after Schnatter apologized for using a racial slur during a conference call in May.

The apology comes after Forbes cited an anonymous source saying the pizza chain’s marketing firm broke ties with the company afterward.

Forbes said Schnatter used the N-word during a media training exercise. When asked how he would distance himself from racist groups, Schnatter reportedly complained that Colonel Sanders never faced a backlash for using the word.

In a statement released by Louisville, Kentucky-based Papa John’s, Schnatter said reports attributing use of “inappropriate and hurtful” language to him were true.

Schnatter stepped down as CEO last year after blaming slowing sales growth on the outcry surrounding football players kneeling during the national anthem. He remains chairman.

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  1. I’m going to really miss those jovial ads with two of my favorite money whores: Papa John and Peyton Manning.

  2. Their pizza still sucks. We have several local places that make great pizza, no need to eat PJ’s crap and you are still putting money in his pocket every time you buy one of his pizzas.

  3. Preach. I boycotted this a-hole years ago. I can’t imagine why any progressive would buy his products.

  4. He seems to be a blamer like so many right wingers. If he wants to blame his demise on something real he’ll call himself down and his world view. The NFL’s problem isn’t with players doing their American thing. It’s with his un-American thinking and the crowd he got it from. many NFL fans apparently had the same problem. They could’t bare to see Black men acting like free Americans. And folks like CEO Papa egged them on. So they boycotted the fucking NFL. Less fans in the stadium less pizza sold.

    I don’t eat junk food but most of my employees do. When I see the young girls on my staff eating Chic fil A I leave it alone. It’s lunch ( it you can call it that ) not a political debate so I leave it alone. Mr. Papa John could’'t do that. The wing-nut in him just couldn’t be restrained. The folks that have their futures tied up in the success of that company saw that and put the man on the street before he could do more harm. Kaepernick’s politics was not Papa Johns problem. It was Mr. Papa’s politics and the politics of the NFL fans like him that was PJ’s undoing. If he left it alone and just let it be a ball game he’d still be CEO.

  5. Probably because they like it. If they do they should buy it. If we make every minute of our lives about political victory we;'ll be some kind of sad folks. Mr. Papa’s personality and politics are repugnant. But apparently the pizza is OK to many. Reject the man not the pizza. Although I clue all of America in on crap like pizza and donuts. They are engineered to take advantage of the satiety and satisfaction centers in your brain. The intent is to addict you to them. They’re are taken apart in labs and fine tuned to hook you. They are fed to mice in various configurations to find out which one is most addictive. And they are 10 seconds of pleasure in the mouth and a lifetime of ill health later.

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