Kanye West Gets Pulled Into the Papa John’s Racism Scandal

Papa John’s Founder, John Schnatter, isn’t taking things quietly over the backlash he has received for using the n-word during a conference call earlier this year.

The move resulted in him resigning from chairman of the company and Papa John’s announcing it would remove all of his images on their marketing.

Schantter has defended himself against the charges of racism and has sent a letter to the company’s board over the weekend.

According to Schnatter, Laundy Service, who he was on the conference call with, had suggested using Kanye West as a co-spokesman, but Schnatter said he declined because West used the N-word in his music.

“The board asked me to step down as chairman without apparently doing any investigation,” Schnatter said in the letter obtained by CNBC. “I agreed, though today I believe it was a mistake to do so. I have checked with corporate governance experts who tell me that this was not a proper action by the Board.”

Schnatter said he refused to work with West because “he uses the ‘N’ word in his lyrics,” read the letter.

“I then said something on the order of, Colonel Sanders used the word ‘N,’ (I actually used the word,) that I would never use that word and Papa John’s doesn’t use that word,” Schnatter told the board. “Let me be very clear: I never used the ‘N’ word in that meeting as a racial epithet, nor would I ever.”

“Those individuals were acting on rumor and innuendo, without any investigation — let alone a third-party investigation of the facts,” Schnatter wrote of the board’s actions.

“I will not allow either my good name or the good name of the company I founded and love to be unfairly tainted,” Schnatter also wrote.

Disclaimer: We have no position in Papa John’s Int’l, Inc. (NASDAQ: PZZA) and have not been compensated for this article.