Papa John’s Pizza’s founder and former CEO has called his split with the third-largest pizza company in the world ‘immoral’ and ‘evil’.
American billionaire John Schnatter, 59, who founded the chain from his broom cupboard in 1984, resigned as CEO the pizza chain in 2018 after he blamed NFL players kneeling in support for anti-racism for the national anthem on dwindling sales figures.
Six months later, he quit as board chairman after he was captured using the N word while trying to downplay the comments during a conference call.
In a new interview with Bloomberg, Schnatter – who has cashed out over $500 million in stock – said the ‘elite left’ were among those to blame for his dismissal, claiming his story ‘debunks the left’s ideology’ about the American dream and capitalism.
John Schnatter, the founder of Papa John’s Pizza and former CEO, has called his split from the world’s third largest pizza chain ‘immoral’ (as reported in 2017).
Speaking to the publication, he said: ‘It was a crucifixion. It was unethical. It was illegal. It was immoral.
Declaring that he will clear his name, he claims that his demise was part of a larger scheme. He says: “Wow, the roots on that thing are wide and they’re deep,” he said, as he crossed the Ohio River and headed into Louisville. “This could go all the way up to the top of the food chain to the power that be in progressive elite left.
Schnatter, who says the tide started to turn against him when his business became ‘too big’, said: ‘The upper elite progressive left worries about me. The Papa John’s story completely discredits the left’s ideology. This is America. It is possible to live the American dream.
Schnatter, who has cashed out more than $500 million in stock, claimed that the ‘elite left” were to blame for his dismissal. He claimed his story ‘debunks left’s ideology’ about capitalism and the American dream (seen in 2013).
Schnatter has accused Papa John’s board members of conspiring against him to be forced out of his CEO position. In January, he also accused his colleagues of unfairly “painting” him as a racist.
In 2018 Schnatter stepped down after facing criticism for blaming disappointing sales on the NFL’s handling of player protests during the national anthem, when Papa John’s sponsored the league.
Six months later, reports revealed that the founder had used N’word during a media training call to avoid PR blunders.
During the call with media agency Laundry Service, Schnatter tried to downplay his NFL remarks, saying ‘Colonel Sanders called blacks n*****s’ as he complained that the KFC founder never faced public backlash.
Shortly after these reports were made public, Schnatter resigned as board chair. After the incident became a major news story, the pizza chain began to remove Schnatter’s image form its logos, pizza boxes, and restaurants.
Schnatter later apologized for the incident, saying that “news reports attributing the inappropriate and hurtful language I used during a media session regarding race” were true.
“Regardless of the context, I am sorry. He said, “Racism has no place in our society.”
In 2018 Schnatter stepped down after facing criticism for blaming disappointing sales on the NFL’s handling of player protests during the national anthem, when Papa John’s sponsored the league (seen at a game in 2012)
Papa John’s was established by Schnatter from a broom closet he found in his father’s tavern Mick’s Lounge, Jeffersonville, Indiana, in 1984. After the scandals, his picture was removed from the logos of Papa John’s and pizza boxes.
Recalling the incident, he later added: ‘It wasn’t a slur. It was a session in strategy and media planning, and I repeated something that someone else said. We’re not going say that. During the interview, he said this.
“We don’t use this kind of vocabulary and language. It was taken out of context, and it was twisted, but it doesn’t matter. I hurt people’s feelings. This is what matters here. And for that, I’m sorry.
Schnatter flew to St. Louis earlier this year to urge Papa John’s to apologise to a former employee of color who had filed racial discrimination claims against the company. He was later fired for filing complaints.
After recording audio of a Papa John’s manager, George Mitchell filed a lawsuit against them.
Mitchell was the one fired after he complained to corporate. Mitchell decided to take matters into his hands and emailed Schnatter.
“I thought, why isn’t the company doing something about this?” Schnatter spoke to local media. Schnatter said that the tape was terrible, it’s horrible, and it’s terrible for anyone to have it.
In 1984, Billionaire Schnatter started Papa John’s out of a broom closet at his father’s tavern Mick’s Lounge in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
After selling his 9.9 million shares in May 2019, he now has less than 4 percent of the company’s stock.