Founder and former CEO of Papa Johns Pizza, John Schnatter, resigned after news broke about him using the n-word in a conference call with a marketing agency. The purpose of the call was to participate in a training program regarding racism but, it obviously got out of hand. Schnatter resigned on Wednesday evening.
During the conference call, Schnatter was asked how he would avoid online racist groups. He responded by making his comments about the NFL protest less important. Later in the call, he went on to say that “Colonel Sanders called blacks n—–s”. Schnatter complained that Sanders never experienced public backlash.
Schnatter’s apology reads:
“News reports attributing the use of inappropriate and hurtful language to me during a media training session regarding race are true. Regardless of the context, I apologize. Simply stated, racism has no place in our society.”
This is not the first time that Papa Johns has been criticized for making comments about race. Back in November 2017, Schnatter described the NFL protests as a “debacle”.
Schnatter’s full-comment:
“The NFL has hurt us by not resolving the current debacle.”
After the news broke, Papa John’s stock went down 11% in just hours, which took off around $70 million of Schnatter’s net worth. Now, Papa john stock has dropped around 25% since Schnatter came out with his views on race.
Since Schnatter’s comments about the Colonel, professional and collegiate sports teams have been backing out of deals with Papa Johns.
The University of Louisville is currently evaluating the naming rights to their football arena, Papa John’s Cardinal Stadium.
Neeli Bendapudi, the president of the University of Louisville, issued the following statement about the matter:
“We haven’t had a chance to discuss it formally but yes, certainly we are aware that there is a lot of interest in this and we are hoping to come together to discuss it.”
Major League baseball teams, Miami, Tampa Bay and Baltimore, have suspended their promotions with Papa Johns.
Featured Image via Flickr/Mr. Blue MauMau
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